The War to End All Wars
by Miragee
Summary: After the destruction of Starkiller Base, both the Resistance and the First Order know it's time to make big moves - and for the Order, that means unleashing Snoke's secret weapon upon the Resistance. But when his daughter finds her way to Poe Dameron, it could mean destruction for the Order - or was that her plan all along? [Poe x OC] Rated M for obvious reasons.
1. Vaneli Snoke

**Hello everyone! So this is attempt #2 at my Star Wars story – I began my story on here using multiple points of view, and then realized that I have literally NO story for half my characters. That's when I realized this story was basically a Poe/OC story, so I decided to pitch the old one, edit it down, and focus primarily on Poe and my OC. This first chapter has a bit of Han and Kylo POV (Kylo might return for just a bit) but that will be pretty much it. Rated M for obvious reasons for later chapters. I hope you all enjoy!**

 **QUICK NOTE - My Star Wars obsession is fairly new - I have never read the books or watched the TV shows, and most of my background info comes from Wookieepedia. So I apologize in advance if some things go against all that background canon stuff. Let's just say we're basing this off the movie-verse. And of course, I do not own these characters (although if someone wants to send me Poe Dameron, please do) and I make no profit off them. All I own is the idea for Vaneli. This is all for my own amusement - and hopefully yours!**

* * *

 _ **D'Qar - A few days earlier**_

The plan had been set in place. Han had sent Chewie to go ready the Falcon with Finn, who would be accompanying them, and he waited until the rest of the room had cleared out. Leia was the only one who remained – she was staring at the plans for Starkiller Base almost _too_ intently, obviously trying to ignore the silence and tension in the room. He didn't have to have the Force to know that she was thinking about their son. Han wanted desperately the run, to do the one thing he was good at – but this was too important. She had to know, just in case something _happened_ and he wasn't able to tell her later.

"Hey, um, Leia?" he mumbled, approaching her and then reaching out to tap her shoulder, only to stop awkwardly before he did so. She looked up at him, and Han could read on her face that she was worried. Not about the awkwardness between them – she was worried about Ben, as he had suspected. He knew that look all too well, and he'd seen it far more than he liked.

"There's something I have to tell you. It's about the girl," he explained. Leia pushed aside the plans and nodded.

"I know, I'm a bit hesitant myself to allow that boy to go after her – I don't want his head to get clouded, focusing only on her…" she began.

Han shook his head and cut her off. "No, no, it's not that. We _have_ to save her, Leia. She's…it's her. It's Raven," he told her.

Leia's eyes widened and she lowered her voice, an old habit she'd always done when discussing important information, just in case someone was nearby listening to her. "Are you sure? How do you know?" she asked him curiously.

"You'll know when you see her, Leia. She's exactly like him – and then she told me about her past. How she'd been left on Jakku by her family, and how they'd never come back," Han explained. Leia closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

"That has to be her. And now she's in the hands of our enemy. I told him, I _told_ Luke he couldn't just dump her there and hope for the best. Han, did she…I mean, does she…the Force? Did you notice?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Sorry, you know I'm never good at picking up on that stuff. But it is her, Leia. We have to get her back. If they figure out she's Luke's daughter, I can't imagine how devastating it would be to the Resistance. I can't imagine what they'd _do_ to her…"

Leia nodded in agreement and without warning, gave Han a big squeeze. At first, he froze for a second out of shock, before wrapping his arms around her as well and resting his head on hers.

"Now I know why you offered her a job," Leia chuckled into his shoulder. Han pulled away and flashed her one of his classic grins.

"Well of course – who better to teach her how to be an amazing co-pilot than her uncle?"

* * *

 _ **D'Qar - Present time**_

The transfer of the base was going to be absolute hell.

That was all Poe Dameron could think when they announced that they would be packing up and heading to their next location, since it wasn't safe to stay here any longer now that the Order knew they were here. He always hated moving bases; it was all busy work and not entertaining at all, and he was going to genuinely miss D'Qar. It was a beautiful planet, and flying around at night, staring at the stars in his X-Wing had become one of his favorite past times. This time, they would also have to be careful because they had Finn, who still had not woken from his coma. He could only imagine how difficult it would be to transfer him and all those machines he was hooked up with.

Still, Poe knew that he could grumble all he wanted- but it was a necessity that he had to partake in. Being a soldier meant you sometimes had to do things you didn't want to do. Their next destination was going to be Naboo, which surprised him. It was a very populous planet and had quite a…history in the battle against the Light and the Dark, but he supposed it made sense. It was so popular, they probably wouldn't expect their base to locate there. Senator Berenko, who had always sympathized with the Rebellion, had helped them find an ideal location on the planet and assured them that the majority of Empire sympathizers had been run from the planet before her untimely death. The thought of her being killed along with the entire Capital of the Republic still made Poe's blood boil. Thank the Maker the Starkiller Base was just a memory now.

Just as Poe was getting ready to board his X-Wing and say goodbye to the D'Qar for good, Leia approached him from across the hanger.

"Commander Dameron! I'm glad I caught you before you left," she told him. He removed his helmet so he could properly address the General and hopped off the ladder of his beloved ship.

"General – everything is all set to go here. The med team has already left with Finn and all their supplies, and my team is about to get out of here with our last batch of cargo," he explained quickly. She smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Thank you, Dameron, but I'm not here for a briefing. I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done lately, and I wanted to let you know that the tracking device you were able to plant on the Order's ship has given us some coordinates," she informed him. Poe's eyes widened.

"Really? That's great!" he exclaimed. While they had been attacking Starkiller Base, waiting for Han and Chewie to take down the defensive shield, Poe had taken a slight detour towards the hanger where the Order kept all their ships. He knew what Ren's ship looked like – having been taken prisoner upon it and everything – and he'd managed to shoot a homing device at it, in the event that they were able to escape the planet after they destroyed the base. At the time, he'd had no idea if he'd actually made contact. It was the first time they'd ever shot a homing device from a ship. His slight detour had apparently paid off though, and now they'd be able to plan their next attack.

But Poe knew that Leia had more reason than him to be excited about the prospect of new coordinates. "That means…Ren is probably alive, then," he muttered, addressing his hands instead of looking at her when he spoke. Bringing up Ren around the general was always an awkward subject and something he was never going to get over. He knew that Ren was her son and all, but to him – he was the monster in the mask who'd almost killed him.

Leia sighed and nodded. "I knew that before we got the coordinates, Poe. I would know if my son had died," she reminded him. Poe nodded, forgetting for a moment that she too had the Force. She had felt when Han had passed away – he hadn't even thought about how that same feeling would probably strike if her son hadn't made it out alive.

"Well, I'm glad I could be of service. Where did they go, if you don't mind me asking?" he asked her.

"Raydonia," she told him. Poe wrinkled his eyebrows. The place sounded – familiar, but he couldn't quite place why he thought that. He was about to ask, only to have a fellow pilot call for Leia and drag her away from him before he could open his mouth.

"We can talk later, Dameron…see you on Naboo," she said with a smile before turning her attention and leaving him to finish packing.

* * *

 _ **Raydonia**_

Kylo's face felt like it was on fire, and the bacta was not doing a damn thing to help.

"Well, I am sorry sir, but…your face was slashed with a lightsaber. It's going to take time to heal," one of the medics hesitantly told him. Kylo just shot him a dirty look, knowing that he was right but not giving him the satisfaction of admitting it.

"Will it scar?" he asked, examining his reflection in a nearby mirror. The edges were starting to heal, but there was still a good deal of open flesh upon his face. It was tinged blue from the bacta to stop infection, and Kylo wished he could put his helmet on so he wouldn't have to look at it. He'd been expressly forbidden to _not_ wear it though, and to let the wound breathe.

"We can try everything to make sure…" the medic stammered.

"So that's a yes?" Kylo asked. The medic slowly nodded.

"Good," he grumbled. He stood up and headed towards the door, grabbing his lightsaber on the way.

"I have to meet with Supreme Leader, I expect tonight you'll bring something more effective than bacta," he snapped at the medic. The medic said something quietly about making sure he would before Kylo left his quarters and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Snoke was always an intimidating, fierce presence in Kylo's life, but every time he saw him in person, he felt such a rush of admiration and intimidation that it almost made him sick. This time was slightly different – he was also scared. Kylo Ren did not get scared often. He knew he had failed, and he had failed spectacularly. The Resistance had no doubt located Luke Skywalker by this point, and things were going to be extremely difficult for them if they were able to convince his old master to come back and fight them. Kylo was confident in his abilities – but he knew Luke and he knew him well. He knew he was more powerful than he could imagine and would be a serious threat.

Snoke sat in his throne room, with Hux on his left, and on his right…it was a woman. Kylo felt his stomach sink when he saw her. He knew who that was, having worked with her before, and if she was here…things were even worse than he thought.

"Kylo Ren," Snoke bellowed, leaning forward in his chair and staring at him. Kylo immediately knelt down to his leader, unable to look him in the eye just yet. He could feel the anger and disappointment radiating off of him.

"I trust you know why you're here," he told him, leaning back. Kylo nodded.

"I have failed the First Order. I was unable to stop the Resistance from destroying our base and finding the map to Luke Skywalker," he prattled off. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hux smirking. Asshole. Why hadn't he died at the base? They'd lost good soldiers, but somehow _he_ made it out.

"Stand, Kylo," Snoke commanded. Kylo stood and taking a deep breath, he raised his eyes to look at him. All seven feet of him sat straight up, and Kylo couldn't help but note that his master looked…slightly healthier than normal. It was hard to tell with him, as he had looked like a wrinkled old man since the moment Kylo had met him. But despite their recent defeat he couldn't help but sense an air of satisfaction about him.

"It is true, what you said. You failed, but I cannot help but feel that I should take part of the blame," he told him sadly. "I did not finish your training as I should have. I thought you were ready to go out on your own, but I was wrong. By failing you as a teacher, you in turn failed me as a student. We're here to fix that," he explained.

Kylo could feel his heart lighten a little. No punishment?! Just the promise of more training? This was turning out much better than he had hoped – until he glanced at the woman again. Her blood red lips were smirking, and he felt his heart sink again. He knew where this was going now.

"This is why I have brought my daughter here today. She will help you with your training, and we will regroup and come at the Resistance stronger than ever. Vaneli, are you ready to complete Ren's training?" he asked the woman. She nodded, her chin length blonde hair bobbing as she did so.

"Yes, Father. I'm ready," she responded. Snoke looked pleased and waved his hand to dismiss Kylo.

"Report to the hanger at first light tomorrow. Your training will resume then."

* * *

In Vaneli Snoke's quarters, the young woman sat on her bed, legs crossed, eyes closed, focusing on the Force that surrounded her and trying to block out the many thoughts and feelings of the Order soldiers who marched around the base.

Tears were falling down her face as she did so, although she couldn't allow herself to fully succumb to her emotions. Snoke would surely feel it. After years of practice, she'd gotten very good at keeping people from reading her mind. Especially him.

In order to keep herself sane, she allowed herself brief glimpses into her memories. Replaying them in her brain was the only way to keep herself strong, but she could never linger in her past too long. Too long, and someone would surely sense it, and she'd be ruined.

 _A young girl, crying over the body of her mother…slightly older girl, being taken by soldiers, crying and desperately trying to get to her house, which was engulfed in flames…a menacing, wrinkled monster telling her to stop crying, telling her that she was powerful, and he was her father now…_

She took a deep breath and forced the memories away. Her tears stopped, and she reached up to rub them away from her cheeks.

She stood up and walked to her dresser, picking up her lightsaber. She turned it on, and red blades of light erupted from both ends. She remembered when Snoke had first given it to her, telling her the story of Darth Maul, a Sith apprentice who fought with a similar weapon. Two blades were always better than one, he'd told her. Maul had been a failure, but the Force was stronger in her than it had even been in him. She would not fail with this weapon, he had assured her.

Turning off the saber and placing it back on her dresser, she undressed and crawled in to bed. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow, and she knew exactly what Kylo's first lesson was going to be.


	2. Another Rejection

_**Raydonia**_

Vaneli was still not entirely sure why Snoke had put so much faith in her to train Kylo Ren. Ever since she'd been taken in by him, he'd told her of her power and the Force – it was the whole reason she'd ended up here. Snoke had sought her out, a strong Force sensitive individual with unlimited potential, to train like a dog and create a loyal soldier out of. She was nothing more than a pawn to him, and the fact that he called her his daughter was simply a ploy for her to feel more comfortable with him. When she realized that, she vowed she would do anything she could to take him down, even if it meant putting on an act in order to survive in his halls. It wasn't easy, and it took every ounce of energy she had in her to keep him out of her mind, away from her true thoughts. She had to convince him she was on the Dark side, not a shred of doubt, and she'd had to do some…questionable things, including agreeing to an arranged marriage with _that man._

As long as it kept her alive another day, she could justify it to herself. She wasn't sure how long she could keep it up, though, and she was sure Snoke was starting to sense what was going on. It had been years, and she knew it could only go on for so long. A feeling of dread was always present in her stomach these days, and she couldn't help but think that the foundation she'd worked so hard to build was about to crack.

While she hadn't exactly been _trying_ to disappoint him, there were some aspects of fighting she just wasn't very good at, and it didn't help her case at all. Sure, she could wield her two sided lightsaber like it was an extension of herself, and was able to use the Force to break into her enemies minds (and, in turn, keep them out of hers) but when it came to other parts of the battle, she wasn't exactly the super soldier Snoke had imagined. She was only ok with a blaster, often needing to use both hands to really get a good shot, which was inefficient. And when it came to piloting…it was laughable how bad at that she was.

Yes, she certainly was not the incredible Force user Snoke had wanted her to become, but for some reason, he still trusted her with Ren. A foolish mistake, in her opinion. Sometimes, she got the feeling that Snoke _did_ care about her, even just a bit – but then she remembered him setting her house on fire with her father still inside, and all those feelings vanished instantly.

Ren and Vaneli had trained together right after Ben Solo had renounced his name, his parents, and his life to the Dark side. Snoke had been training her with his soldiers ever since she could remember, helping train her in the Force, and when he was able to sway the grandson of _the_ Darth Vader to the Dark side, he envisioned them as an unstoppable team. Together, they would be his puppets, taking down the Republic and restoring the Dark side to their rightful place as the ruling entity of the galaxy. Vaneli knew it was her opportunity to stop Ren before he really started, to try and coax him back to the Light and to his parents, but he was not easily swayed. Her focus on him only brought out more anger and disgust, and Snoke's attention focused from her to him, his _new_ shining pupil.

Still, it could not be denied that Vaneli was powerful and a strong Force user, and good in combat. Ren was still pretty terrible in combat, as evidenced by the large scar now adorning his face. As long as Vaneli was still needed around here, she was safe.

Vaneli was not disappointed to see Ren up bright and early, as promised, for his first lesson. On the contrary, she was excited. Last time she had helped him, he was still a young Force user, and she had thought she would still be able to break through to him. She had been unsuccessful. If anything, she blamed herself for his bad temper. _Let yourself feel, don't push the feelings away,_ she'd told him. She'd been attempting to reawaken the Light in him, but that had backfired tremendously. Now, however, she could tell he was plagued with many feelings. Most of those feelings were of regret. There was some semblance of a human being buried in there somewhere, and as unfortunate as it was, perhaps he needed to kill his father to bring that part out. A necessary sacrifice. She hadn't had that before – maybe now was the time.

This time, Vaneli vowed, she would be more successful.

"Morning," she greeted him with a smile. Kylo just glared her without saying a word.

Taking off her jacket to reveal her tight black training tunic and maroon leggings, she turned back to her student, arms crossed.

"I believe the correct response is _Good Morning, Master,"_ she teased him. Kylo glared at her again, taking off his own jacket as he readied for training.

"You're not my master," he grumbled.

"No, that would be my father, but still – I am your teacher. Believe me when I say I want to help you, Kylo, to help you break down those walls and truly harness your power," she assured him.

"That's a nice thought, but I can't stop thinking about our last training session when you nearly cut my arm off," he replied, taking his lightsaber out of his hilt and igniting it.

Vaneli rolled her eyes. "Oh, let it go, Ren. That was years ago. A teacher is tough on their students."

"You're younger than me."

"So?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. _You're the child here, out of the two of us,_ she wanted to snap back, but she didn't. She chose another approach. "Don't get all sour because Father chose to focus more energy on me instead of you," she snapped.

Vaneli knew she had struck a chord with him. So far, so good. She was digging deep into him. She knew she could lord that over him as much as she wanted. She knew Ren was always a little jealous of that, wishing that Snoke was his father instead. If only he knew just how badly Vaneli wished that were true as well…

"First things first – we need to fix _that_ ," she told him, pointing to his lightsaber. His dark eyebrows furrowed and he glanced at her.

"Why?" he asked, waving it to show her that the weapon was still in fine working order.

"Look at it, Ren – it's no wonder you were beat by an inexperienced young girl. This weapon looks like it's going to detonate at any minute," she told him, pointing out the jagged edges of the saber beam, which would be sleek and smooth.

"It's not finished," he told her.

"I know – and you're going to finish it. If I'm going to train you properly, you need a proper weapon. I'd prefer _not_ to die during training because you hit something too hard and the whole thing exploded," she told him. She walked over to one of the storage sheds in the hanger and pulled out a toolbox, setting it down on the floor next to him.

"Once you fix your saber, then we can truly begin," she told him. Kylo just stared at her in horror.

"You must be joking."

"I am completely serious."

"How is this going to help me?"

Vaneli rolled her eyes. "Did you not hear me say I don't want the bloody thing to _explode?_ Once your weapon is in proper working order, we can truly fight and work on your skills. Unless you want to fight with mine," she added, taking the saber out of her belt and twisting the middle, so it unscrewed in to two separate weapons. She held out one end for him, and after a moment of thinking, he turned away.

"No. I suppose you're right. An unstable weapon is dangerous."

Smirking with satisfaction, she nodded. "A weapon is a part of you, and you have to take care of it like it's your own limb. Now I can't imagine it'll take you more than a day. While you're working on it, use the time to reflect. What do you really want out of this training? What do you want to do now that your father is gone? What's next for you, Kylo Ren?" she asked. She hoped she would plant the seeds of regret in his brain, and giving him a day to do nothing but manual work was a great way to assure he'd dwell on it a lot. She knew there was sadness from the death of his father buried inside there – she hoped she could bring it to the surface. She had to do this now, while the wound was still fresh, or she'd lose her chance.

Kylo rolled his eyes. "You women and all your thinking and _feelings,"_ he grumbled. Vaneli could already see his mind racing, though, and felt a sense of pride at her manipulation. If only she was a senator – she'd be able to sway anyone to her way of thinking, even without the Force. Perhaps some day…

 _No, focus. Focus on Ren. Make him obsess over it, really feel the regret, have it bring out the Light…_

And so she left him there. Her red lips, permanently tattooed on the request on Snoke to make her seem more menacing, curled into a smirk as she left the hanger. True, she was determined to try and help him and bring him home to his mother – but she couldn't help but have a little fun with him.

Suddenly, an arm reached out and grabbed her, and pulled her into a dark corner. Before she could register what was happening, hungry lips pushed into hers. She should have known who it was – she should have sensed him. She had been too damn distracted by Ren to notice him creeping in the shadows.

Hux pulled away and grinned. "It's good to see you again, Vaneli," he told her before capturing her lips in another rough kiss. She was glad that he had his eyes closed and wouldn't be able to see her roll her own, but she kissed him back anyways. Like a good little puppet.

"I was wondering when Father was going to call me into the fight. I haven't seen a real skirmish in far too long," she told him. The only fights she'd ever been a part of had been brief raiding missions – something difficult enough to really test her powers, but not so difficult that Snoke had to worry about losing her.

"He should just make you his sole pupil and be done with that fool," Hux grumbled, looking over his shoulder at Ren for just a second. "Plus, that would mean I'd get to spend a lot more time with you," he added, taking her hips and grinding his into hers, a slight bulge pressing against her.

"Well, I'm here now – we have all the time in the world, _fiancé,_ " she whispered in his ear. Despite the fact that Hux made her want to vomit every time he spoke, she was a perfect doll and knew what part she had to play in this game to keep him unaware of her intentions.

"I love hearing you call me that," he grumbled, his voice full of want. Knowing where this went, Vaneli pulled back and smiled at him. She often gave herself in to his wants to appease him, but not today. She had too much to focus on.

"I should get back to Ren. I'd be a rubbish teacher if I abandoned my student during his first task," she said with a wink. Hux gave her a sly grin and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Right, I suppose…we should be professional. I'll see you tonight, then?" he asked, trying to sound cool but coming off as slightly desperate. It was getting hard and harder to not gag in his presence.

Valeni nodded. "Of course. Anything for you," she said before kissing him on the cheek and turning to go back to the hanger, even though she didn't want to be anywhere near Ren right now. She could feel the annoyance radiating off of him from here.

If it was between dealing with a moody Kylo Ren and a horny General Hux, she'd pick Ren every single time.

* * *

 _ **Naboo**_

"We received word that Rey made it safely to Ahch-To," Leia informed Poe as he unpacked his X-Wing at their new base. "She's made contact with Luke, and they're going to spend the next two weeks training in the Force before heading back to us," she added.

Poe stopped and his eyes widened. THE Luke Skywalker was really going to be coming here?! Honestly, with the transfer of bases, and worrying about his new friend in his coma, he hadn't even been thinking about Rey and Luke. He'd only ever glimpsed the girl, but he could tell just by looking at her that she was someone special – he didn't need the Force to see that.

"That's amazing! So, is she…going to be a Jedi then?" he asked.

Leia shook her head. "No, I do think the days of the Jedi are truly behind us, Dameron. Trying to force people into those old laws has only ever been a disaster."

"Well – if Vader, I mean…sorry… _Anakin_ had never broken the Jedi laws, you wouldn't be here," Poe pointed out with a grin. Leia smirked at him, and Poe was glad in that moment that he could joke with the general like that and not get reprimanded for it. If he'd made a crack like that in the Republic army, he'd have been sent to run laps for an hour.

Leia let out a deep sigh and straightened her purple cargo vest. "Well, I just wanted to give you an update, Dameron. I fully intend for us to come up with a plan to do something by the time she comes back. We'll be having a meeting tomorrow with the Admiral and the rest of our commanders to figure out our next move," she explained to him. Poe nodded, and with that, she left him to continue unpacking.

When she was gone, BB-8 unhooked himself from his charging station and rolled over to him. The droid beeped at him, asking about Rey and if she would be missing him on Ahch-To. Poe chuckled and nodded.

"I'm sure she misses you, buddy. You're a loveable little droid, I know _I_ certainly missed you when we were separated," he assured the droid. BB-8 let out a little squeal of delight, and then Poe heard someone approach him from behind.

"You know, I think you love that droid more than you love your new boyfriend," Jessika came up behind him and playfully punched him in the arm, and Poe felt himself blush. He was suddenly glad that the hanger was empty except for the two of them.

"Come on, Jess. Finn isn't my boyfriend," he assured her.

"You want him to be, though," she told him slyly. Not many people on the base knew about Poe's sexuality – but Jess was one of them. She was one of his closest friends, and they'd had a few wild nights together of their own, purely for pleasure and nothing else. She was the first one he'd told about his bisexuality on the base, and while he wasn't ashamed of it, he didn't exactly want it broadcasted. No matter who he liked to spend his nights with, his main mission in life was piloting – and that was all it was going to be. He didn't want people getting distracted by trivial details.

He never saw himself as someone who would settle down. His love in life was his X-Wing.

"He's in love with Rey. It's _sooo_ obvious. Pretty adorable too…like a little puppy," he said with a grin. Jess chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"He is. The guy has it bad. I'm sorry, Poe," she added as a serious afterthought. He shook his head, feeling her dark eyes staring at him intently for any signs of emotion – but he was not going to give her any.

"Don't feel sorry for me. It's fine, _really._ Just because I like everyone doesn't mean everyone else does," he joked, putting on a smile for her. It sucked, yeah, when someone didn't return his affections, but that just meant he could move along to the next person. Maybe Jess, if she was feeling up for it later. It had been a while.

"I just went to visit him," Jess informed him, which Poe had expected. Jess had a little bit of training in medics – not a lot, but enough to try and help out with Finn. Piloting was still her main passion, but she had been spending extra time in the med bay to try and figure out a way to wake him up.

"Any luck?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. She shook her head.

"His vitals are all the same – he's just still unconscious," she sighed. Poe bit his lip and sighed as well. It was starting to worry him how long he had been in the coma…he knew it was possible that he could be in the coma for a long, _long_ time. The longer it lasted, the more worried he became.

Just as Poe was going to try and steer the conversation towards something happier – perhaps inviting her to his quarters later, to try and get his mind off things – Leia's voice sounded over the intercom system.

"Commander Dameron to General Organa's office," she stated. That meant she wanted to talk _strategy_. UGH. Poe hated talking strategy. Did the woman do anything else with her time? He groaned and rested his head against the X-Wing dramatically. Jess chuckled.

"Go on, I'll finish up here," Jess told him, referring to the cargo that Poe had yet to finish unpacking with all the distractions around him. Poe smiled and clapped her shoulder in thanks.

"As soon as he wakes up, you'll be the first to know," she assured him before he walked off, and in thanks, Poe gave the young girl a big squeeze of appreciation before heading off to Organa's office.


	3. Secrets and Awakening

_**Naboo**_

"We should strike now while they're weak. If it's true that Ren is there with them, this is our chance!"

"But if they really have the Supreme Leader with them as well, it might be too dangerous. He's capable of great power and I'm not sure we're ready to take him on," Leia insisted.

"All the more reason to attack now, take out the head while he rests!"

Poe felt his heartbeat in his head, a sure sign of an impending migraine. He couldn't stand the _arguing_ anymore. He was a pilot, not a military strategist. He was more comfortable taking the orders than trying to come up with them, and wasn't even sure why the General insisted on bringing him along to all these meetings. He hardly ever made any contributions.

His head could barely process any of this anyways after the news that General Organa had given him last night. As her most trusted commander, she'd told him the secret that she hadn't told anyone besides Han – she told him the secret about Rey. About her true identity and her true name. He'd had no idea Luke Skywalker had even had a wife, let alone a daughter, and knowing that they were now training together was…well, it was pretty mind blowing. He could hardly imagine how powerful the duo would be when they returned…

He stared at the holograms of Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke that hovered over the middle of their table. They were shining beneath a map of Raydonia, which was a real eye sore of a planet in his opinion, but probably the reason they'd gone there. They probably wanted some place to lay low for a while, and to regroup and figure out their next move. Poe was split on whether or not now was the time to attack – he wanted to, that was for damn sure, but logistically, they had a couple of things to address first.

"With all due respect, sir," Poe stated, turning to Admiral Akbar, who was insisting on attacking now. "We ourselves have a lot to recover from. Jessika's ship suffered some serious damage, and while she's been helping in the med bay the repairs haven't gotten done, and half of our droids need to be repaired before we can even think of taking off…" he trailed off, waving his hand instead of listing the numerous technical things they had to patch up before thinking of battle again. Plus, Poe wanted to sleep. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days and it was starting to wear down on him. He'd abandoned his late night tryst with Jess last night after learning about Rey, and the weight of that secret had kept him up all night.

"There's something else," Leia said with a heavy sigh. She pushed one of the buttons on her panel, and the hologram of a small, slight female joined the holograms of Snoke and Ren.

"Intelligence suggests Snoke has called in his daughter, Vaneli," she told them. There were a few groans around the table, but Poe found himself perking up a bit. He knew exactly why there were so many reactions across the table. The prospect of Snoke calling his daughter into the fray was terrifying, but also exciting. It meant things were about to get _serious._

"Damn. I didn't think she really existed," Poe admitted. She was like a ghost story among the Rebellion – a young girl, taken and raised by Snoke and trained in the Force to be an unstoppable assassin years ago. Thing was, she had never been seen in battle, but various raiding missions had been carried out by the First Order, and whoever had been there often left a path of dead Resistance fighters in their wake. Whether it was her, or just a well trained Stormtrooper, no one had ever been sure. Poe had been convinced after a while that it was just something the Resistance did to entertain themselves; a threat that would get their adrenalin pumping and keep them on their toes.

"She exists all right. We believe she's training Kylo Ren and helping him recover from the attack," Leia explained. Poe glanced at her and her eyes seemed clouded, as they always did whenever she mentioned her son by his chosen name. As usual, she skimmed right over the mention of her son, professional as always.

"But, the good news is – she's mostly the stuff of myth. While we do believe she is strong and intelligent, she's not an unbeatable entity, as the stories would suggest. She's just a normal soldier – but Snoke is protective of her. If he wants to use her in the battle, he must be desperate," she added.

Poe now realized that _that_ was why Raydonia had sounded so familiar. That was how the story had gone – a poor young girl had been taken from her widower father on Raydonia and "adopted" by Snoke to become the next Sith apprentice. Ren was not a Sith, simply an agent for him and partly a trophy, but Vaneli was a Force user with unlimited potential. That was why she'd been taken. Yet according to Leia, she really wasn't all that terrifying. He wondered if she was able to sense it within the Force…if she could tell that Vaneli's reputation was all fluff, nothing more. Plus, Poe and everyone else knew the Sith had been wiped out years ago. They'd ended with Vader, but had Snoke been planning to try and bring them back?

"Well, once Rey and Luke get back…they can take her on, right? She can't be _that_ dangerous," Poe pointed out. Leia nodded. He also thought of the new recruits they'd taken on after news of Starkiller Base's destruction reached all the corners of the galaxy. They had tons of people falling over each other to sign up and fight the Order. One girl – hell, even Ren and Snoke – would be easy to defeat once they were trained up a bit.

"Are you sure, General? I mean if he keeps her hidden, she has to be pretty powerful," a new recruit piped up, the fear obvious on his face. It was Akbar who responded this time.

"All our intel confirms that she is a strong Force user and nothing more. Kylo Ren is the real threat here, not her," he replied. Poe just nodded in agreement. He had no concern for this girl, or anyone else on the ground, really. He was hoping to just stay in the air this time – where he was comfortable.

"Alright, everyone dismissed. You heard Dameron – we have some ships to repair," Leia stated, clicking a button and causing the holograms and the map of Raydonia to disappear. Poe was more than ready to retire to his quarters and take a nap, but Leia stopped him. He was afraid she was going to break more bad news to him – but instead he saw she was smiling.

"Poe, I wanted to tell you personally – Finn's awake."

* * *

Poe practically ran to the med bay to find Finn being fussed over by a number of medics, his entire back covered in sky blue bacta paste. Finn looked dazed, but he was definitely awake and conscious, and to his relief, Finn smiled when he saw his friend enter the bay.

"Poe!" he exclaimed with a grin, trying to get up to greet his friend and being pushed back onto the table by the medic.

"Finn, buddy!" Poe replied, running up to the table. He was going to give him a hearty hug but – all the bacta prevented that. He was sure the wound on his back hurt like hell. Instead, he had to settle for sitting in a chair next to the table, grinning as the medics finished up what they were doing and leaving the two friends to have a few moments alone.

"Poe, is it true what they're saying? That Rey left to go find Luke Skywalker?" he asked him in amazement. Poe grinned and nodded.

"Yup. Left a few days ago. According to the homing beacon on the Falcon, she made it safe and sound, and she's got…about a week left before she's scheduled to come back with Luke. They're training," he told him. He could see Finn let out a visible sigh of relief, and Poe couldn't help but feel it warm his heart a bit to see his friend's reaction to that. Finn clearly cared for Rey – it was touching to see how he would do anything to keep her safe. His heart sunk just a bit, thinking about the fact that it wasn't _him_ who made Finn worry like that – but what was important was that Finn had someone. That he was happy.

"That's insane. So I take it they finished the map?" Finn asked. Poe nodded. He forgot for a moment just how much Finn had missed. He was going to have to update him on everything once he was well enough to join them for meals.

"And we're on Naboo now?" he asked. Poe nodded again.

"Yeah, we have to gather our strength and prepare for the next move against the Order. Not sure exactly _what_ that is just yet…my squadron has some repairs to make, and we have some new recruits that we have to debrief and take through basic training…I think it may be a while until we make another move," he explained. Finn nodded, and once again Poe felt like he knew what he was thinking. It was easy to forget that he was a former Stormtrooper and had probably seen his share of fighting for a lifetime. At least this time, it was for the right reasons.

"So what can I do?" Finn asked, determined and looking like he was ready to jump into the action right now.

"You can _rest._ " Poe told him, standing up and clapping him on the shoulder, taking care to avoid his injury. "We need you in top fighting shape. As soon as you're better, we'll let you know what you can do to help. But for now, just do me a favor and relax, ok?" he asked him with a chuckle. "Seriously, you earned a break, man."

Finn nodded and mumbled something about knowing that he definitely did need a bit of a break. At that moment, Poe remembered that he had been on his way to take a nap before he got sidetracked by Finn's recovery. He felt the exhaustion weigh down on him suddenly and knew it was time to leave. He stood up and started to walk away, but turned to him once more before he headed out.

"And try not to worry about Rey, ok? She can take care of herself. You _know_ she can."


	4. Preparation

_**Raydonia**_

Initially, Kylo had argued so much about the meditation that Vaneli almost gave up. Then she reminded herself that she had to do this _now,_ she didn't have weeks of endless time that she could spend trying to coddle him into her plan. Part of her even wished at times that she had him wrapped around her finger like she did Hux – he was extremely easy to shut up, all she had to do was kiss him and he was like putty in her hands. Pathetic.

Kylo, on the other hand, was stubborn as a mule and many times, she had to remind herself of the real reason she was doing all this – to try and bring the light back to Kylo, and bring the Force in to balance once more. Once she did, they'd be unstoppable against their former master.

At first he flat out refused to do it, but after she informed Snoke that he was refusing her training, he changed his tune almost instantly. He wasn't happy about it, but he did it. She hated that she had to _tattle_ on him, but if he was going to act like a baby, she was going to treat him like one.

Was this what it was like to have a brother? Because she did not like it one bit.

At first, she'd had him meditate over small things – like what he had to do during the day, where he envisioned himself in a week, a month, or a year. After that, she stepped it up and had him focus on more…emotional topics, like trying to forget the scavenger girl. It was hard, making him suck up his pride in losing to a Force user who had no proper training and had come from the middle of nowhere. She could always feel his anger and hatred toward her radiating from him whenever they meditated.

But, slowly, she helped him to see it as a growing opportunity. She ran over the fight again and again with him, helping him pick out his weaknesses and then helping him to improve them. Slowly, he softened. She could tell that he was letting his guard down around her, even if his actions did not show it. He certainly didn't show it amongst his troops – she didn't blame him, he'd lose the hard earned respect he had one as a calloused, cold leader.

After he'd dealt with the defeat on Starkiller Base, she gently led him to think about his father.

She hadn't even seen the opportunity coming, but once she had, she'd grabbed it. He'd shown up earlier than she had anticipated for training that day, and caught her off guard. She'd been polishing her lightsaber, the only thing she really owned that had any kind of meaning to her. He approached her without her noticing, her focus on the weapon and not on the area around her.

"Why do you have a double sided lightsaber?" he asked her. She jumped slightly when he startled her, and he smirked a bit as he sat down next to her, proud of himself for surprising her.

She turned the weapon over in her hands a few times, thinking about the day she had been given it by Snoke. It was probably the only happy memory she had of this whole place, and probably the only moment Snoke had actually done something kind for her. She wondered if she could play on that…lead his mind into a direction that would benefit her…

"I'd been using a training lightsaber, and Father decided I was ready to have my own weapon specially made. He told me I'd earned it. So I chose the double sided saber – he'd told me about Darth Maul, and I wanted to prove that I would be a better fighter than him. He had it made for me the next day," she told him. Truly, she'd requested such an elaborate weapon because she wanted to see if Snoke cared enough to actually get it for her – he'd surprised her when he had, but then her training had immediately increased, and she remembered that she was just a pawn to him.

"My father never did anything like that for me," Kylo grumbled, obviously jealous at the affection Snoke had shown her in that moment. It didn't matter that it had been years ago, and a relatively empty gesture in the long run. She knew Snoke didn't care a bit for her, only wanted her powers, and she wished Kylo would see that. To speak it out loud would be foolish, though. She knew that.

"Your father cared for you. It was why he was trying to bring you back. I think in the end, he wanted to make up for all the years he had done you wrong," she told him. Kylo was growing angry, she could feel the anger and resentment growing inside of him as he thought about Han Solo. She had to play this carefully. If she didn't, her opportunity would be lost.

"I had to finish him in order to fully commit myself to the Dark Side," he practically spat at her.

"You did," she told him, even though she herself did not believe it. "Vader did the same after he lost his family and became great – you will too," she told him.

She could feel it, a stab of…guilt from him. It was faint, but it was there. She saw Han Solo through his eyes as he took his last breath, before he fell into the void and was gone forever. He'd robbed his mother of his one true love. That caused more sadness in him than she had expected. Almost as soon as it appeared, it disappeared.

"I don't much feel like meditating today," he said, standing up abruptly. She jumped up with him, grabbing his arm.

"Kylo, stop. Pushing aside your feelings…it's dangerous. That's what gets you into trouble!" she insisted. "You need to let your feelings be known. You always say you want to finish what Vader started, but he only became powerful after he truly gave in to what he was feeling inside!" she told him. Kylo tensed, and even though she knew he was about to argue with her, she could tell that she had hit a nerve, somewhere.

 _Open yourself to your feelings, to that call to the light Kylo, come on…_

She felt a wave of…some emotion that she couldn't place come from him, replaced by annoyance.

"Are we going to spar today or not?" he asked, and even as he walked away, looking angry and looking like he was trying to find something to attack with his lightsaber, she couldn't help but feel like she'd made some progress.

She'd planted a bug in his brain – and hopefully it was manifest itself the way she intended.

* * *

 _ **Naboo**_

Once they were certain they had enough recruits to successfully carry out an attack on the Raydonian base, it was decided that they would have a week to prepare for a surprise attack. That would give them enough time to repair the ships and droids (or at least find replacements if they were beyond repair) and also figure out which recruits could be fighters and which would stay and help at the base. They would then (hopefully) take the First Order by surprise and try to finish them off once and for all – assuming they were all there, as intelligence suggested. It would be risky and could be a complete disaster, but it would be foolish to pass on this opportunity. If they could cut the head off the snake, they could end this once and for all. Initially, they had intended to wait for Rey and Luke – but after much hesitation, Leia admitted that this opportunity was far too good to overlook. They had to strike now.

Now that Finn was fully healed, he followed Poe around pretty much all day, helping in any way that he could. Poe knew that he was eager to help and prepare them for battle, but he also could tell that Finn was looking for a distraction to get his mind off of Rey. It didn't help matters that Finn literally brought her up almost every chance he got – his disappointment in being subtly rejected by him was replaced by happiness for his friend, because whenever he talked about Rey, there was a certain…light about him. He couldn't quite place what it was, but Finn talked about her like she was an absolute goddess. He had to admit – he was very curious to actually _meet_ this girl now and get to know her. If she was half as amazing as Finn described, all the men on this base would be in serious trouble.

"Do you think they're going to make her live by the Jedi rules?" Finn asked one day while he was helping Poe make the last repairs on his X-Wing. He wasn't so much helping as he was handing him tools and rambling on and on about all the thoughts going through his brain. He'd now mentioned Rey…five times in the past hour, and Poe couldn't help but point it out to him in a joking way.

"You have a SERIOUS problem, you know that?" he called from under the X-Wing. "Did the Stormtroopers have a ban on talking or something and you're making up for it now?" the pilot asked with a grin as he wheeled his gurney out from under the ship. He jumped up and wiped a streak of grease off his face, admiring his handiwork on the ship and Finn stared at him in confusion and then shook his head.

"Well, no, but…we never talked about personal stuff. That was a distraction and highly frowned upon. I've never had someone I could actually talk to. Who actually wanted to listen and have a conversation," Finn explained with a sigh. Poe chuckled.

"Not sure it's a conversation if I've only contributed like…two sentences over the past hour, but I imagine it's nice to get it off your chest," he told him, taking his gloves off. Poe knew that he was probably one of Finn's first real friends – he was more than happy to lend him his ear so he could get all his feelings off his chest. He glanced back at the ship and crossed his arms happily.

"Well, I think that's it for her. She's ready to fly into battle again. All systems good to go, Beebee Ate?" he asked his droid. The little droid gave a few beeps of approval before removing itself from its compartment, rolling over to Poe's side to stare up at the ship as well.

"Are we going to wait for Rey to come back before we attack?" Finn asked. Poe shook his head. They only had a day or two before Rey was supposed to come back, but the plan was to go into battle just before that.

"Doubt it. We can't let this opportunity pass – we have to attack, and we have to attack now while they're weak. We can't let them regroup, not when we made such huge strides at Starkiller base," Poe explained. Finn frowned, but sighed and nodded in agreement sadly. He was a soldier – Poe was sure he knew that it would be foolish to wait for her.

"I mean…you can stay here and wait for her if you want," Poe said. Finn laughed like he was joking, but Poe was, for once, completely serious.

"Wait, why?" Finn asked. Poe ran a hand through his dark hair with a heavy sigh.

"Well, I mean – look kid, you're a great fighter, and we'd love to have you come with but…dude, it's so _obvious_. You're absolutely infatuated with the girl. I don't want your head being clouded because you're worried about her. We need to focus on the battlefield, you're a soldier, you know that," he told him. That was why he was so good at being a pilot – he never got attached, never had anyone at home that he was worried about that could possibly cloud his judgment.

"You need every man on that field you can get. You can count on me, Poe. When have I ever failed you?" he asked him, raising an eyebrow. Poe sighed again.

"Ok, you got me there, but seriously…you up for it?" he asked him.

Finn looked around, and then looked down at BB-8, who was looking up at him and awaiting his response with a look of anticipation (if droids could make that expression). He lowered his voice even though no one was listening.

"Poe, I'm always going to be thinking about her. Whether she's here or not. I'm always going to be wanting to keep her safe – nothing is going to change that. So just accept it and let me fight," he told him stubbornly. Poe cracked a little smile and was about to say something until Eron, one of their newer recruits, ran up to the pair with excitement.

"Commander! They've received a transmission from the Millennium Falcon – they're about ten minutes away from the atmosphere, with Luke Skywalker!"


	5. Not Safe

_**Naboo**_

Leia was not taking any chances with Luke's return. Even though everyone on base was excited and wanting to witness his arrival the second he landed on base, she expressly forbid it. The only people allowed in the hanger were Finn and Poe, which caused a great deal of complaining and protest from the other recruits – but she'd shot it all down right away, threatening to dismiss anyone who disobeyed her from the Rebellion forces, and that finally got people to leave the hanger.

Finn was practically bouncing next to him as the Falcon prepared to land, and Poe had to admit – he felt rather _bouncy_ himself. Luke Skywalker was a legend, and he couldn't wait to see him and find out what his plan was for taking down the First Order. They'd had two weeks to plan out an attack, or at least a battle plan – he couldn't wait to see the legendary man in action.

The ship landed, and Chewbacca and R2-D2 exited first, followed by Rey, who immediately ran to Finn and threw her arms around him. He realized that this was the first time Rey was seeing Finn after his recovery from the fight at Starkiller Base – she was probably beyond ecstatic to see him up and walking around. Poe couldn't help but feel a little stab of jealously at their embrace, but it quickly disappeared, and Rey turned to him after she finally let go of Finn.

"Good to see you again…Poe, right?" she asked with a smile. Poe nodded.

"Good to see you too, Rey. Welcome back," he said. That was when everyone's attention was drawn to Luke.

The Jedi Master looked…pretty much how Poe had imagined him to look. He had a large bushy beard and was wearing Jedi robes, and his legendary mechanical hand was exposed with no synthetic skin covering it. Damn, that was cool. His face had a smile upon it as he greeted his sister, but he could also tell that Luke had seen some terrible days. He wondered if Luke had told Rey that he was her father – or if he had kept that a secret, just like Rey herself had been kept a secret for all these years from everyone. If he _had_ told her, that couldn't have been a pleasant conversation. He knew if he had been abandoned on the hellhole that was Jakku for years, he wouldn't have been very happy with his family…

"I have so much to tell you," Rey told Finn. Finn could not stop beaming with excitement, and Poe wondered for a brief second if he would actually grab her and kiss her right there – which would be both embarrassing but hilarious to witness. Instead, she grabbed Finn's hand and pulled him away, headed towards Leia and Luke.

Suddenly, Poe realized he was standing all alone, wondering what he should do. Was he invited to this little family reunion? Why had Leia even brought him here if he was just going to be forgotten? He didn't realize just how much he liked being included in everything until just now, and for a second, he debated walking back to the mess hall and leaving them alone. Would he really be missed? Did they need him here? What did he do now?

That was when he noticed Leia catch his eye, and she motioned for him to join them.

* * *

 _ **Raydonia**_

Vaneli couldn't help but feel like something terrible was going to happen.

There was a pit in her stomach that just wouldn't go away. It didn't help matters that Hux was feeling particularly territorial lately – he was worried about all the time that she had been spending with Ren, and was afraid she would end up leaving him and going to Ren instead. _Both of you make me want to vomit,_ she had thought to herself when she sensed this in his head. She couldn't have him, of all people, ruining this for her, so she'd been booking some extra nights in his quarters in order to avoid any trouble.

She couldn't sleep, and had been studying him as he lay next to her. It always saddened her to watch him as he slept – he was actually sort of adorable when he was unconscious, and somehow always ended up cuddling a pillow, his mouth open just slightly but not making any loud, annoying snoring noises. His red hair was sticking out at weird angles; it made him look like an actual human instead of the strong general he was when he was awake.

It was a shame that he ever had to wake up.

She stood up and picked up her tunic, just so she had something to slip over her. She would get rid of any guards in her way easily, so she didn't bother putting on any shoes or even tying the sash around it – she just needed something to cover herself up.

She first dealt with the guard at Hux's door. She opened the door and looked at him square in in the eye, catching him off guard. He didn't even have time to ask her what she was doing before she began.

"You will forget you saw me and go guard the TIE fighters," she told him. The guard stiffened, and then repeated her words.

"I will forget I saw you and go guard the TIE fighters," he repeated, leaving instantly and heading off towards the hanger. Easy enough. The mind trick had always been one of her specialties. Too bad it didn't work on Ren, or even Hux, much to her dismay. He'd been around Ren too long to let himself fall for that anymore.

She did the same with any other guard she encountered, sending them to odd places around the base. When she finally reached the guard outside of Ren's room, she sent him to the cafeteria, which was far on the other side of the base. He wouldn't be back for quite some time, which was perfect.

Vaneli needed some alone time with Ren's brain.

Once he was gone and she was certain the cost was clear, she leaned against the door. Part of her wanted to actually enter the room, and it would probably be easier to concentrate if they were in the same area, but she didn't want to risk him waking up and catching her. This was risky enough as it was. A guard could walk by at any time and see her, and rumors would surely start flying about Vaneli sneaking to Ren's chambers half naked in the dead of night.

She closed her eyes and felt for his mind. He was sleeping, but even in his slumber, it was hard to navigate into his brain. He was very good at keeping people out, but she was determined tonight. She couldn't shake that awful feeling of dread, and she was determined to figure out _why_ she felt like this. She sat down, her hand and head pressed against the cold metal door. She could do this, _she could do this…_

Slowly, she started to feel his emotions from the day. Anger, annoyance, resentment, _guilt…_

Her heart soared a bit. She dove further into his memories, hoping to find a glimpse of Han Solo, of Leia, of his past…

Instead, she was watching a scene from earlier in the day. Ren was talking to Snoke, looking very serious. Whatever they were talking about, it wasn't a pleasant conversation. She could feel anger and annoyance coming from him…and coming from Snoke too.

"She thinks it's a game. I know what she's doing. She won't be successful," Ren told him. Snoke sighed, his long fingers folding together as he looked out over the ships in the hanger, which was completely deserted. His lips pursed together in annoyance.

"I've seen this coming for a while now. It's a shame we couldn't save her," he muttered.

"I do feel guilty. She's trying so hard, and she has helped me with my combat skills," Ren admitted, but the conversation was then cut short.

The scene vanished quickly, and instead she saw flashes of battle equipment – blasters, lots of them, melee weapons and dozens of shiny new Interceptor ships. She saw an army of droid soldiers being dusted off, all ready to be taken out immediately…her heart sank, and vision disappeared as she backed out of his mind.

Vaneli knew they had been talking about her.

She'd failed.

She'd tried to take back Ben Solo, and instead – she'd been a fool. They'd seen through her plan all along. She had been so careful to make sure they hadn't invaded her mind, that she had played her part perfectly to convince them she was on her their side. She looked down at the bruises and cuts on her arms and legs from the countless hours she'd spent with Ren, training him and building a relationship to try and help him back into the Light. Instead, she'd been the one who had been played. He'd been putting on a show too – his had been more convincing.

She sat up and hurried back to Hux's room. She could sense that Kylo was still asleep, and she was pretty sure he wasn't aware that she had been there, but after what she had learned, she now knew she was in danger, and sticking around would be suicide.

She practically ran to his quarters, not encountering a single guard along the way – they were all likely wandering the base still, under the influence of her mind trick. She re-entered his room and found him just as she had left him, sleeping soundly with the pillow tucked in his arms. A sinking feeling in her stomach made her realize that he was her only ally on the planet at the moment. Hux of all people – right now, he was the only one on her side. The thought made her tear up, and before she could stop, the tears started flowing.

She didn't make a sound as the tears silently slid down her cheeks, and after about twenty minutes, she had released all her emotions. Years of torment and agony were releasing themselves in the form of tears, and all her bottled up emotions were coming to the surface. She didn't give a fuck anymore if Snoke knew she hated him, or if Ren knew she was trying to sway him to the Light – if the visions she had just seen were indeed true, they already knew. What was the point in trying to suppress them anymore?

Finally, when the tears stopped coming, she crawled back in to bed. Her movement woke Hux and his eyelids fluttered open.

"Bad dream?" he mumbled, still half asleep. Sniffling, she nodded.

"Yes. An awful dream," she told him. Even though she knew the man next to her was a monster, and viewed her as nothing more than a sex toy, she found herself wanting nothing more than to be comforted by him in this moment. Any human offering any sort of comfort was more than welcome right now. Sure enough, in a sleepy haze, he moved closer to her and pulled her into his arms. He was asleep almost instantly, but she had the warm embrace of someone's arms around her, even if it was someone she hated. That was all she had in the world now.

She had to get out of here. She didn't know how, and she didn't know when she could, but she knew that the time had finally come to get away from this damn First Order once and for all.

* * *

 _ **Naboo**_

Despite the fact that Luke and Rey had just returned to the base, Leia was thinking about war as always, and she had every intention to send them into battle the following morning as planned.

Rey seemed eager to get out and use her skills on the battlefield, but Poe couldn't help but feel like Luke was hesitant to return to this life. He didn't blame him – he'd been in exile for so long, returning to the battlefront would likely be an alarming wake up call. Finn, on the other hand, was just as eager as Rey, and Poe had to admit that he himself was ready to get back in on the action. He hadn't flown in nearly a week and he was itching to get back into the air.

"Now's our chance to try and take out Snoke, or at least continue to beat them down until they have nothing to rebuild," Leia said confidently. Everyone but Luke nodded in agreement.

"I've instructed all the commanding officers to inform the troops tonight so everyone is ready to go at first light. If we can get there before the sun fully rises, we can hopefully catch them off guard," she explained. She paused, the clouded look returning to her eyes, and she looked down at the battle plans.

"Anyone who encounters Snoke, Kylo Ren, or Vaneli is ordered to try and take them out. The time for hostages and negotiations is over. We have to end this now," she said solemnly. Poe was a bit surprised that such a harsh order was coming from her, but he agreed – this battle had gone on long enough. It was time to end it all if they could. She had accepted the fact that her son was not coming back. He could almost feel her sadness, but like a true soldier, she moved on right away.

"Luke will stay here. If they don't see him, they may think we haven't brought him back yet. If they were to find out he was here, they might step up their efforts to replenish their troops faster than we anticipate, and we will lose this window of opportunity," she told them. Everyone around the table nodded, and Luke stood up to address them for the first time since they'd landed.

"These past two weeks with Rey have shown me that she is truly gifted in the Force. I have no intention of trying to restart the Jedi order, or to make this fight about me. This fight is about the Dark versus the Light. When I see for myself what we are up against, I will be of more assistance, but…" he trailed off, and this time Poe felt himself speaking up.

"We understand, Mr. Skywalker," he told him, feeling a bit awkward at addressing him like that, but he noticed a small smile from Luke, so he at least hadn't made the situation _worse._ "I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on. Helping Rey with the Force, well…that's been a tremendous help already. Thank you," he told him. Rey beamed at him and then beamed at Luke, and Poe suddenly realized that Rey _knew._ She _had_ to know he was her father. The way she was looking at him was more than just a look of respect. He must have told her.

"If you don't mind, I'd like you all to head to your quarters and prepare for battle. I'd like to catch up with my brother," Leia said, walking over to Luke and giving his shoulder a squeeze. Everyone nodded in agreement, and even though Poe wanted to invite Finn and Rey back to his quarters and ask her the millions of questions going through his mind, he knew that she was right – it was time to prepare for battle.


	6. Prisoner

_**Raydonia**_

The sound of alarms blaring woke Vaneli violently from her sleep. Next to her, Hux looked just as startled, red hair sticking up all wild in multiple directions.

"Shit, come on!" he exclaimed, grabbing his discarded uniform off the floor, not even caring that it was all wrinkled from the night before. Vaneli did the same, grabbing her tunic and leggings and boots and hastily putting them on. This was a loud, long alarm, not the kind that was just for testing – this was something real, and something serious.

"Do you know what's happening?" he asked her, looking at her expectedly like she had some sort of Force radar that could see what was going on to sound the alarm like this. She shook her head and reached for her lightsaber, which had been resting on the nightstand. She never left the weapon alone – thank the Maker she'd developed that habit years ago, or she'd be in deep shit right now.

"It has to be the Rebellion," she told him, and he nodded in agreement. Once they were both decent, they ran out of the quarters, headed straight for the control room where the radar techs would hopefully let them know what was going on. There were Stormtroopers running around frantically, running to their stations while still trying to piece together what was happening.

Vaneli hurried into the control room with Hux, immediately heading straight for the main radar screen. Captain Phasma was there, standing still and at attention, but she could sense distress from the stoic woman. Vaneli didn't blame her – it was hard to concentrate with the sound of her own heartbeat beating frantically in her ears.

Sure enough, three groups of ships were headed into the atmosphere – including one that was, unmistakably, the Millennium Falcon, leading the attack. They were attacking much earlier than she had anticipated. No doubt they were trying to catch the Order off guard, while they were weak. She hadn't been able to sense it, and she was certain that Ren hadn't been able to either. He may not trust her, but if he thought the Resistance was coming, he would have abandoned her training lessons immediately to focus on them instead.

Speaking of Ren, where was he?

She tried not to think about the monster she had unleashed in Ren and closed her eyes. She had to focus on this impending battle, not on Ren. If she focused on him too much she'd be ruined. She had to think about herself, and about this battle. Her mind was still hazy from being startled awake, but she was starting to focus in on the Force and use it to her advantage.

"Do you think Skywalker is on the ship, General?" one of the techs asked. Vaneli was the one who answered for him, shaking her head.

"No, I would be able to sense him. There is definitely someone with the Force on that ship, though. Someone with strong power…" she said, her voice trailing off as she started to pick up another wave in the Force, something she hadn't expected…

"Is it the girl?" Hux asked, bringing her back to the present. Vaneli nodded. The first pulse was definitely the scavenger girl, but the second wave that she'd felt, that was what was interesting to her…

"Yes, but…there's another, too. It's not Skywalker, but…someone else in the fleet is sensitive to the Force," she explained. Hux tried not to look surprised, but was not very successful and still looked at her with shock. Vaneli concentrated, trying to feel the wave of the Force that she'd first detected, and felt it again. It wasn't strong, and whoever it was – they weren't using it, despite their sensitivity to it. Whoever it was, they didn't know. She focused again, trying to pinpoint the source of the wave…

There. She'd felt it. She knew who it was.

"FN-2187?" Hux asked her, shooting a glance at Phasma who stood nearby, looking tense. She knew what they were thinking – if a Stormtrooper ended up being Force sensitive, Snoke would pitch a fit that no one had noticed sooner. "Whenever she goes, he's with her, I can't believe…"

Vaneli cut him off. "No, not the Stormtrooper…it's the _pilot."_

* * *

"Alright Dameron, what do you want to take out?" Rey's voice came over the com as Poe followed the Falcon towards the First Order base, which was rather small but obviously very fortified. Still, a quick scan picked up a number of ships, quite a few bunkers, and some training grounds that were all exposed – and the perfect targets. Poe felt his heart soar. This was what he _lived_ for. Their plan seemed to be working so far – the Order did not seem prepared at all for an attack. The sun had barely risen over the trees, and very few bodies seemed to be out, from what he could tell by just eyeballing the base. Still, he heard the loud alarm blaring all the way from up here – their advantage would not last very long.

"Give me the training grounds. You take the TIE fighter hanger?" he asked.

"Roger that, Commander!" Finn's voice was the one that answered, and he heard Jessika's voice come over the connection next.

"I see two P-Towers down there – permission to blow them to smithereens?" she asked. Poe grinned to himself.

"Permission granted, Pava," he told her. He watched her ship veer off, and he addressed the rest of his squadron on the com.

"Alright Blue Squadron, follow me into the training grounds- let's take these troopers out," he ordered. He heard a lot of whooping and yelling from his fellow pilots and couldn't help but notice that his heart was racing. The adrenalin was pounding through his veins, and he couldn't wait to fucking blow something to pieces.

"Black Squardron, assist Rey at the TIE fighter hanger," he ordered.

"Affirmative, Black Leader," Snap answered, and now that orders were all given out – Poe could do what he did best.

He could _fly._

* * *

Vaneli didn't even stop to try and find Kylo Ren or any of the other generals on the base. She was going into the battle, even though Hux wanted to stop her.

"Vaneli, you can't! The Supreme Leader didn't approve you to go into battle!" he cried as she ran from the control room, grabbing a DH-17 as she left.

"We're under attack, Hux, and you're trying to convince me to stay behind? I don't care what my father says, I'm joining the fight!" she cried at him, and without waiting to see what else he had to say about the situation, she turned on her heel and headed out into the hanger.

She had to get out into the fray, and it was the only way she'd be able to escape unnoticed. This attack could not have come at a better time! The trick was going to be figuring out which way would be safest – she was an awful pilot, but if she could just figure out how to get the damn ship in the air, she was sure autopilot could help out. It was a risk she had to take.

The Millennium Falcon was instantly recognizable in the sky, and it was shooting at the TIE fighters with scary accuracy. FN-2187 _had_ to be on that ship. X-Wings were shooting through the air as well, taking out areas in the training grounds and also aiming at their bunkers and ground weapons. A number of troopers had boarded the remaining fighters, and to her dismay, there wasn't a single one that she could steal to get out of here. Shit.

She ran out to the training grounds instead, just in time to see another wave of X-Wing pilots flying overhead, taking out some of the tents closest to the base. If she could get one of those X-Wings down, but without seriously damaging it…maybe that would be her ticket out of here.

She looked around anxiously and found her weapon of choice. "Give me that," she ordered a nearby trooper, who was holding an ion torpedo blaster in his hands. He handed it over immediately upon seeing who she was, and she picked one of the X-Wings out of the sky. She just had to clip it, just had to force it to land so she could commandeer it…she closed her eyes, summoned the Force to help her find the perfect little area that would cause just a bit of damage, not too much, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"There's two TIE's on your back, Snap, I got them," Jess was saying into the com. Poe listened and took note of what was going on around him, but he was focusing mainly on the training grounds. The Stormtroopers, unprepared for the attack, were running in every direction, shooting at him with anything they could grab, but thankfully most of their weapons were just blaster guns. A smart rocket or two was shot in his direction, but they were clumsy in their haste to fire, and he was able to dodge it their attacks with ease. The blasters couldn't do much to his ship, but just as that thought entered his mind, BB-8 started beeping in panic.

"What? An io-?" was all Poe managed to get out before the torpedo hit his wing, causing all systems to go into a frenzy. His dash lit up like the night sky, alarms blaring, and he glanced to his left and saw nearly the entire wing had been taken out. He was spiraling out of control fast and had only seconds to act now.

"Beebee-Ate! Eject now!" he exclaimed. The droid beeped loudly in understanding before it fell from its compartment, and one button push later, Poe ejected from the plane as well, falling through the air and watching as his ship spiraled off and crashed into a nearby forest in a rush of flames.

* * *

 _Shit_. That hadn't been what she wanted at all.

"Great shot!" the trooper whose weapon she had borrowed praised her, thinking that she had meant to explode the entire X-Wing. She didn't know why she'd even bothered – she was an awful shot, she should have known she'd miss. Her heart sunk – things were not going well at all.

She had to think of something else. All she could think of right now was to run – but now some of the X-Wing pilots had spotted her and were shooting. The Stormtroopers were shooting in return, but if she didn't at least act like she was doing something, she wouldn't get very far without the troopers getting suspicious.

She aimed at one of the X-Wings flying by and released a few shots from her blaster, missing by a mile. She hid behind some of the crates of supplies and started yelling out orders, making it seem like she was here to command.

"Go to the bunker and grab the remaining ion torpedoes, take out the remaining X-Wings!" she cried. Even though she wanted to still use one of those as her ticket out of here, she knew it would take them time to get over there and actually get the weapons. Hopefully it would be enough time to think of a plan B.

The Falcon roared overhead, shooting at the bunkers again – and suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Vaneli noticed that Kylo Ren's ship was flying off into the atmosphere. She sensed that Snoke and Hux were on that ship as well. They were leaving without her.

She suddenly remembered the droid army from Kylo's dreams. That certainly hadn't been here, she would have known about it – they must have been retreating to another base. If that army truly did exist – it had to be somewhere else. Losing a few TIE fighters and some troopers wouldn't be much of a loss if they had an army hiding somewhere else. A sinking feeling erupted in the pit of her stomach.

Things were looking pretty damn shitty for her right now. She bit her lip, closed her eyes and refocused, and then took off running towards the forest, hoping against all hope that something would present itself as a way out of this hellhole.

* * *

"I'm down, I'm going to need a lift out of here," Poe said into his radio. BB-8 was whirling next to him anxiously, but Poe kept moving. If he didn't, the troopers would find him, and he had left his damn blaster in the ship – which was now a complete ruin. "Any sign of Snoke or Kylo Ren?" he asked.

"Negative, Commander," Jess replied. Poe bit his lip and then cursed. So far, this mission wasn't going quite as he had planned. The base was taking a beating – but that would only do so much if they didn't take out any of the leaders.

As soon as he thought that, he noticed a ship taking off, heading out of the atmosphere. Kylo Ren's ship. Fucking hells. He somehow got away _again._ How did this keep happening?!

"Stay put, Poe. We're coming to get you," Finn told them. Poe looked behind him at the base and saw quite a bit of smoke, and as he watched, an X-Wing took out the last TIE fighter that had managed to take flight. The troopers from the training camp were all retreating into the base, and Poe saw the Falcon start to approach the open field, getting ready to land.

"As soon as they open the door, get on right away," Poe ordered his droid. BB-8 beeped in understanding.

He began to move towards the ship as it touched down – a few lingering Stormtroopers were shooting at it, but not making much progress, just as they had done earlier. He could easily dodge their shots, and he did have his protection vest on him…

Suddenly, someone ran RIGHT into him, knocking him off his feet. BB-8 let out a screech, and Poe prepared himself to punch a masked trooper in the face as he got to his feet. It wasn't a Stormtrooper that he'd collided with, though – it was a girl.

 _Holy shit_ , it was Vaneli Snoke. The girl that everyone was afraid of. The legendary daughter of Snoke.

And he didn't have a damn blaster on him, at least, he didn't at first – as she got to her feet, he realized that her blaster had fallen right near his feet. Perfect.

He picked it up and aimed it right at her. She got to her feet and stared at him, realizing what was happening, and he felt his heart start to race. If she was really as powerful as she was supposed to be, she could use the Force and choke him right here before his finger ever pulled the trigger…but he couldn't bring himself to. He'd been ordered to take her out the second he saw her, but it didn't seem right to him. She was unarmed, save for her lightsaber on her waist, but if she reached for it, he'd blast her all the way to Jakku. She knew it too, and wasn't making a single move. She wasn't making any moves with the Force, though – at least, he didn't think so. He was still breathing, at least.

"I'm on your side," she told him. Poe hadn't been expecting that and wrinkled his eyebrows.

"What? No, no…I've been ordered to kill you on sight," he told her forcefully, but he had no intention of taking her out unarmed. He knew he was a rubbish liar, and sure enough, she seemed to see right through his bluff.

"I'm serious. I need to get off this planet. I can help you!" she hissed at him. This had to be some sort of joke, some sort of trick – and suddenly he realized he was unable to move his arm. Shit. She'd frozen him with the Force.

"I don't have time for this!" she snapped at him. She walked up to him and stared him in the eyes, focusing hard. He felt his heart begin to race, like her dark eyes were staring straight into his soul.

"You will take me as your prisoner and take me aboard your ship," she told him. Part of his brain _knew_ what was happening, but he was unable to fight it. His eyes felt heavy, and suddenly his vision became clouded. He had no thoughts, no feelings – all he could think of was handcuffing her and taking her aboard the Falcon.

"I will take you as my prisoner and take you aboard our ship," he repeated, and he reached into his pocket and took out a pair of handcuffs, cuffing her fists together and taking her by the arm to the ship.

BB-8 followed him in confusion, and somewhere a trooper ordered them to stop firing when they saw that Vaneli was being taken prisoner. A few moments later, they were on the ramp into the Falcon, and when they were safely aboard and the ramp closed, Poe's mind snapped back into focus. The clouded mess that had stopped him from having any kind of free will was gone, and instead replaced by anger. He stared at her, flabbergasted.

"What did you do?! Did you just fucking _mind trick_ me?" he demanded.

The ship took off, and Poe's initial plan of opening the door and pushing her out was now gone as they lifted higher and higher into the atmosphere. He watched from one of the windows as Raydonia disappeared, and he noticed that the X-Wings were following them out of the atmosphere. The battle was over, and somehow, they'd ended up with a prisoner.

As soon as the ship was in autopilot, Rey, Chewie and Finn all converged on the scene, staring at him and his new companion in shock. Poe was still fuming, angry that his mind had been invaded and she'd tricked her way into their ship. Still, he made no movement to raise the blaster at her – something was still stopping him from shooting her on sight.

"I should kill you right now," he told her bitterly. She glared at him, and then looked at his friends, taking in their appearance quickly (and pausing to stare wide eyed at Chewie for just a moment) before turning to address him again.

"I told you, I'm on your side. I'm here to help you," she insisted. Poe didn't buy it, and Rey and Finn didn't look like they did either.

"How do I know you're not going to just Jedi Mind trick your way out of here after you get all our secrets?" he asked her accusingly. Her dark eyes glared at him again, but Poe noticed she made no effort to remove the restraints around her wrists.

"You don't know anything about me, do you?" she asked him bitterly. "I could kill all of you, right now, steal all your secrets from your mind and be on my way. But I'm not going to do that. I don't _want_ to do that," she explained.

Poe opened his mouth to retort, but realized that she did have a point. She'd just used her powers to literally walk on their ship, and if she was really going to try and take down the Resistance – well, she could have frozen all of them, read their minds, taken her blaster back, killed all of them, taken the ship…millions of scenarios danced across his brain, but he was still not convinced. Just because she hadn't murdered them all in the few moments they'd been in the air didn't mean she wouldn't do exactly that once they landed.

Finn crossed his arms. "You sound awfully sure of your abilities," he noted.

"I've been raised to fight using the Force – of course I'm sure of my abilities," she replied. Quite a tongue on this one, Poe noted. He also couldn't help but notice how red her lips were. It was a fitting look for someone with such a sharp tongue.

"How did you get caught then?" Rey asked her with a smirk.

"She FORCED me to take her," Poe told her angrily. "She Jedi mind tricked me!"

"How could you do that? Aren't you a Sith?" Rey asked in replied.

Vaneli shook her head. "I'm not a Sith. I'm not a Jedi. I'm just…me. A fighter," she explained.

"Why did you want to get captured unless you want to get intel on our base?" Finn asked. Poe was grateful that his friend was supporting him – it seemed all too suspicious that she would force him to capture her and take her prisoner. She was right when she said she was strong with the Force – she wouldn't be an ideal prisoner. She was dangerous and they couldn't guarantee that they'd be able to keep her at bay.

She took a deep breath, and for the first time since he'd seen her, Poe noted that she seemed to let her guard down slightly. The fierceness disappeared from her eyes, and she looked – almost scared. She looked right at Poe when she spoke next.

"Because I had to get away from there. I'm escaping. I saw my opportunity and I took it," she told him.

Rey, Finn and Poe all exchanged looks of confusion, and Chewie let out a yowl of apprehension. Rey looked back at Vaneli and sighed before dropping her head.

"She's telling the truth. I can tell," she told them all.

"What if she's just messing with your brain to make you think that?" Finn asked her. Vaneli shot him another dirty look and then turned back to Poe and Rey.

"Look, I know you don't trust me – and I don't blame you. But I had to get out of there. Things are getting bad, Kylo Ren is getting more dangerous, and this is my opportunity to finally escape and help you before it's too late. I've been trapped there all my life – I'm not spending another second there if I can help it," she explained.

With that, she reached down and without much effort at all, pulled her wrists apart and broke the restraints holding her in place.

"If it helps, read my mind as I sleep tonight. My defenses will be down, and you can see I'm telling the truth," she told Rey.

Poe stared at her in amazement, still in awe of the way she had broken the restraints as if they were made of water. Finn still looked unsure of her, but he could tell that he was starting to relax, and Rey nodded when Vaneli suggested she read her when she had her guard down. Poe had a feeling now, deep down in his gut, that she was telling the truth. There was still a lot that he had to learn about this girl, but they had plenty of time to do that once they got back to base.

Something she had said struck a cord with him, though, and he knew he had to ask about it. "You said things are about to get bad for us. Is that true?" he asked.

She smirked. "Why do you think I'm here?" she replied.


	7. Lessons in the Force

_**Naboo**_

They arrived back at the base relatively quickly thanks to hyperspace, and Poe insisted on handcuffing Vaneli again before letting her off the ship, just to be safe (and also to make himself look a bit better in front of General Organa). She'd rolled her eyes, pointed out that she'd broken out of them relatively easily earlier, but agreed to do it just the same.

They were greeted with applause at the base, and General Organa was waiting for them right as they disembarked. The X-Wing squadrons all landed behind them as well, hopping out and preparing to meet up with Poe for their usual post-battle meeting – until they saw who was with them. Even though no one had ever seen Vaneli in action, they all _knew_ it was _her._ A few gasps arose from the crowd as they realized whom they'd brought back, and Leia's eyes widened as she saw Vaneli coming out of the ship. She stared at the crew of four and then sighed.

"I take it you've got quite a story for me," she said, eyes narrowing at Vaneli.

"We sure as hell do," Finn replied with a smile.

After shooing away the crowd, who kept staring at Vaneli like she was a creature in a zoo, Leia lead them to her quarters. As soon as they were safe in the office, Poe removed the handcuffs from Vaneli, and she smiled at him. He might have been imagining it, but he could have sworn he heard her in his head, muttering a small thanks to him. A few moments later, Luke entered the room as well, and Poe noticed that Vaneli stiffened. She was just as in awe of the Jedi Master as they all had been when they'd first seen him. Or maybe she was afraid of him…

"Well – someone talk," Leia told them as she sat in her chair.

Predictably, it was Finn who prattled off the tale of how they'd come to capture Vaneli – or, rather, how Vaneli had gotten herself captured. Leia nodded and listened, and Vaneli stayed quiet, looking nervous. Rey piped up at the end and confirmed that Vaneli was telling the truth about her plot to escape the Supreme Leader, and Luke verified that she seemed to have good intentions. She fidgeted a bit, and Poe had to imagine it was probably rather awkward to have so many people breaking into your mind all at once.

"I'm not as skilled in the Force as my brother, but even I have to admit I don't get the…well, Dark Side vibe from you," Leia admitted. Vaneli visibly relaxed and a small smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you, General. It's nice to finally let my guard down and tell everyone how I really _feel._ I've been keeping my brain on lockdown for so long…I forgot what it felt like to just…let everything go," she explained quietly. Poe suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of sadness as he watched her. When he'd first seen her, she'd seemed fierce, like a threat – her blonde bob made her features sharp, and her dark eyes were like probes looking for a weakness in him. Now, sitting in the General's office, he saw her for what she really was – a young girl, terrified out of her mind and trying to escape the claws of a monster. All those stories about Snoke taking her in as his daughter had to be just that – stories. This was a young, terrified kidnap victim, forced to fight. She was just like Finn in that regard. True, he'd only spent a few moments with her, but now, seeing her here on the base…she didn't have an evil bone in her body. She couldn't have.

"I imagine it's been a long morning for all of you – but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask you what you know about Snoke's plans," Leia added. Vaneli nodded and took a deep breath.

"Well, it seems that he has a secret army of droids somewhere. I'm not sure where, I was only able to access this information by breaking in to Kylo Ren's dreams," she explained to her. Leia tensed, but nodded for her to continue. "I'm afraid I wasn't very convincing towards the end of my stay there…they didn't trust me, and I'm afraid that's all I know. They have many more ships and droids and are still in good shape, despite your attack," she informed them all with a frown.

Leia nodded. "Raydonia didn't house the whole fleet," she concluded. Vaneli nodded. Poe felt his heart sink slightly – that meant the First Order hadn't been as damaged in the attack as they had hoped, and that also meant that they hadn't had the majority of their soldiers on Starkiller Base as they had been led to believe.

"Thank you, Vaneli. While it is only a little information, it is extremely valuable," Luke told her. She blushed at a compliment from the legendary Jedi Master and then looked at her hands, like she was unsure where she wanted to look now.

"Now, as for what to _do_ with you…" Leia began, causing Vaneli to stiffen again, "The soldiers on the base will surely ask questions as to why you're suddenly on our side. Quite frankly, I don't think it's their business, and if I say you're with us, that should be good enough for them. Part of me thinks it would be wise to keep you as a prisoner on the base, to keep rumors floating of your capture with the First Order, but if they truly suspected you were disloyal, as you say – that wouldn't do us any good," she mused. Vaneli nodded. Poe couldn't imagine them keeping her locked up like a real prisoner – it didn't seem fair anymore.

Luke interjected this time. "Sis, we don't have to decide what her role has to be right now. I think everyone here has earned a hearty lunch and some time to relax, Vaneli included," he told her. Leia smiled at her brother and then nodded in agreement.

"You're right. Vaneli, take some time to get yourself comfortable. I'm sure you'll be a great help to us in the Resistance, but as Luke said, we don't have to decide _how_ you're going to help us just yet. Everyone head to your quarters and get some rest," she ordered them, and everyone, including Vaneli, mumbled in agreement before heading out of her office.

* * *

Rey and Finn had disappeared, and Poe could only imagine what was going on between the two of them. He tried not to feel a twinge of jealousy, but it was hard. His friend had been taken from him as soon as Rey arrived and he was sure he wasn't going to get him back any time soon. He hated feeling like this – it made him feel immature, like a love-struck child. To distract himself, he'd offered to help Vaneli hunt down some new clothes. Her maroon leggings and black tunic were rather…menacing, and he wanted her to feel comfortable on the base. Eventually he found an extra pair of gray leggings and a soft tan tunic that she could wear from one of the new recruits who was pretty close to her in size, and after she'd changed, she looked just like any other Rebellion soldier on base.

He then took her to get some food. Everyone had already cleared out from lunch, so it was just the two of them in the mess hall. At first she only picked at her food, getting used to the taste – he remembered Finn telling him the food supplied by the Order was rather bland, viewed as fuel instead of food – but eventually she cleared her plate. As they ate, she slowly warmed up to him, and soon, she was telling him her entire life story.

People really didn't talk in the First Order, did they?

Still, it was interesting to hear all about her life – despite how depressing her story was at times. She told him all about training Kylo Ren, and how she'd trained herself to constantly be on alert, aware if anyone was trying to read her thoughts. She told him all about her training in combat, and she showed him her lightsaber with pride – he had to admit, it was pretty badass that she had a double sided saber. She talked for nearly an hour straight, hardly pausing for breath, and Poe sat obediently listening.

She stopped suddenly and blushed. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling. I just…I've been concentrating on living a lie for so long, it feels nice to finally let everything go," she explained, pushing away her empty food tray. Poe chuckled and nodded.

"Trust me, I'm used to listening and not talking. It's really ok – I imagine it's hard, constantly having to watch your back, never being able to focus on anything without keeping part of your brain on alert," he told her.

She took a sip of her water and nodded. "It's not easy, keeping him out of your head all the time. I had to constantly convince him that I was always on his side, but I think he knew – I think he's _always_ known – that I would never fully be on the Dark Side. That's why he's kept me hidden away. Only going on raiding missions, not seeing any real battles – hell, I practically sprinted into the battle as soon as I saw you on the radar, otherwise my chance would have been lost and I guarantee he'd have locked me away again," she explained, an air of bitterness about her. Poe remembered when she'd run right into him on the battlefield – now he knew that she had been running for her life. For some reason, that truly pained him.

He'd fought a lot of evil people over the years. They always had an… _air_ to them. He couldn't describe it. You could tell right away when someone was truly an agent of the Dark side, and this girl was definitely not one. Kylo Ren practically reeked of darkness, but Vaneli…she had the Light, and he wasn't sure how he knew that, but he did.

"Well, I believe you. I mean, I wasn't too happy with you doing the whole mind trick thing," he smirked at her, and she bit her lip and giggled before muttering a soft apology, "But I just…I have a feeling that you're ok. You're telling the truth," he replied, trying to reassure her that he was definitely on her side now.

"That would be the Force in you," she told him. Poe, who had just taken a sip of his own water, choked slightly on it.

"I'm sorry, _what?"_ he asked with a chuckle. She had to be joking. Him? The Force? He kept laughing, but he realized that she wasn't laughing back, and he stopped abruptly.

"The Force. You're sensitive to it. I can tell," she told him matter of factly. She ran a hand through her blonde hair, and all Poe could do in response was blink at her. Was this her idea of a joke? She seemed awfully serious and it wasn't very funny.

"That's impossible. I'm not strong in the Force. I'm just a pilot," he insisted.

"You're _the_ pilot, Poe. Aren't you the best pilot in the Resistance? Why do you think that is?" she asked him. Poe opened his mouth to say yes, he _was_ the best pilot in the Resistance, but no words came out. He just stuttered, unable to find the words to tell her that she was totally out of her mind. She was smiling at him, and the more he thought about it, the more he started to think that she might be making sense – but he couldn't believe it. Not truly. There was just _no way_.

He was simply Poe Dameron. Nothing special about him.

"Because I'm a good pilot?" he said, still flabbergasted and not really sure what to say.

"It's because of the Force, Poe. The best pilots are always Force sensitive. Like Luke. And didn't you resist Ren when he tried to read your mind?" she asked him. He was going to ask how she knew that, but remembered that she was part of the First Order – she probably knew all about his interrogation. His cheeks flushed at that realization – it was not one of her prouder moments, and he didn't want to think that she had seen it in Kylo's mind.

"Well, he was able to break through eventually," he pointed out.

"But not at first. You fought and you fought _hard_. I could sense it when I was training Ren," she explained.

"Hold on, you were training Ren?" he asked, all thoughts of him being Force sensitive now being pushed from his mind for the moment.

She sighed and looked at her hands. "Yes, that was what Snoke originally wanted. I tried to train him, and I told him to become one with his emotions, because I wanted to try and save him and sway him back to the Light," she admitted.

"And I'm guessing…you weren't successful?" Poe asked sadly. She shook her head.

"No. I don't think…he's too far gone. I'm sure your General won't be too happy to hear that but…" she trailed off, and Poe could tell she didn't want to talk about it. She awkwardly cleared her throat and then looked at him with a smile.

"So, as I was saying, about the Force…" Poe rolled his eyes.

"I am _not_ Force sensitive," he insisted, although the more she kept telling him that, the more he started to wonder…was it possible? Every time the thought popped into his head, he pushed it away and thought of some excuse to prove that he wasn't sensitive to the Force.

"You were able to mind trick me, though," he pointed out. She smirked at him, looking rather proud of herself.

"I'm very good at that. I could probably mind trick Master Luke if I tried hard enough," she told him, crossing her arms. Poe laughed and shook his head.

"You're awfully cocky, you know that?" he asked her. She grinned and nodded.

"Cocky when I'm right. And I _am_ right. I sensed it in you the second you entered the atmosphere of Raydonia," she told him, her face turning serious again. She reached across the table suddenly and took his hand in hers, staring at him with those dark eyes again.

"Look, I'm not saying you have to give up everything to be a Jedi but…you do have the Force. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it's there," she assured him. Poe felt something warm inside of him, rising from his belly and into his chest…he couldn't quite place it. Was she trying to…comfort him? He couldn't tell. Wait, was this the Force? Is that what he was feeling? Was he feeling some sort of emotion from _her?_ Could he feel _her_ emotions?

It was as if she could sense that he was getting tense, and she let go of his hand and sighed. "I think I might go lay down. Do I…have somewhere I can go?" she asked. Poe blinked and took a deep breath, shaking himself out of his thoughts for the time being. She had a good point – did she have quarters? Well, she _should_ have quarters. He knew there were extra rooms on the base near the med clinic – he'd set her up in there.

He stood up and motioned for her to follow him, but his thoughts weren't focused on her new quarters at all. All he could think about was their conversation, and how she said he was sensitive to the Force. He still wasn't sure he believed it, and he knew he was going to be obsessing over it now all night.

He couldn't help but feel like she knew exactly what he was feeling, and it excited him and terrified him at the same time.


	8. Annoying Thoughts

Vaneli couldn't sleep. The room that she had been assigned was small, but it was comfortable and felt more like home than any other room she'd ever been given. The blanket was fluffy and the pillows actually had some body to them. Her lightsaber was nestled safely on her nightstand as usual, mostly out of habit, and Jess and Rey had been kind enough to give them some of their extra clothes to build somewhat of a wardrobe for her. Their welcoming gestures warmed her heart, and she finally felt like she could be herself. It amazed her how they could be so welcoming to her after having just met her. Her entire life had turned upside down in the span of 24 hours, and it was still a lot to wrap her brain around, but things were finally looking up.

All those thoughts, however, weren't what was keeping her up.

It was Poe Dameron.

Ever since she'd revealed to him that she had sensed the Force in him, she'd been tuned in to his thoughts. He'd been obsessing about it all day, which wasn't too unexpected – after all, she had dropped quite a bombshell on him - but she wasn't expecting to _feel_ all of those thoughts along with him. He was sleeping now, but it was a restless sleep, and she could feel his unease through the Force as if he was tossing and turning in the bed next to her. He kept dreaming of crashing his X-Wing, over and over again, and she had realized with a sinking feeling that it was _him_ that she had almost killed on Raydonia with the ion torpedo. The feeling of terror as he plummeted through the air was so strong, there was no way she could sleep. She felt awful – she knew there was no way she would have known it was him at the time, but she felt guilty that he was this distraught over it, even in his dreams.

She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. Why was she suddenly feeling all of this? She'd never felt a connection to anyone through the Force, even though she knew it was possible – why _him_ , of all people? Why was she seeing his thoughts and dreams? She was used to being able to see someone's thoughts, but only on command – she couldn't control this, though. She'd tried and it hadn't worked.

She wondered if the connection went both ways. Would he be able to sense _her_ thoughts? Was he seeing her father's death in his restless sleep, seeing her hut burst into flames and Snoke taking her younger self prisoner?

It was confusing, frustrating, and it was giving her a migraine trying to sort all of this out. She buried her face in her pillow and let out an irritated groan. All she wanted was to shut this off, and go to sleep and get a good night's rest for the first time in years.

But…did she _really_ want to shut it off? Or did she just keep telling herself that?

* * *

The next morning, Poe had to do a few laps around the planet in an A-Wing in order to clear his head a bit. It wasn't his trusty X-Wing, but she was long gone, and this would have to do for now. He was exhausted, and he had a feeling he hadn't slept well at all. He distinctly remembered tossing and turning quite a bit last night.

Vaneli had shaken him to his core, and he couldn't figure out why. Well, he knew _why_ but he wasn't sure why it was hitting him so hard. Poe was not one to be rattled easily, but this whole Force sensitive thing was taking over his every thought.

He wished she'd never told him about the Force. He knew that she had said that he didn't need to do anything with it, but now that he was aware of it, he couldn't get _rid_ of it. As he flew, he was starting to figure out what she meant when she said it helped him be a better pilot. He could sense trees before they appeared in his field of vision, he knew which way to turn the ship to make sweet, smooth turns and which maneuvers would get him through the air unnoticed by anyone. He knew the terrain without ever scouting it. The A-Wing was not just a ship; it was an extension of himself.

He thought about Starkiller Base, and how he just _knew_ when to fire and when his shots would connect. He'd fired the kill shot to blow the entire base without a second of hesitation, and he had flown away without even stopping to see if he'd made contact or not. He had just _known._

He wondered if his parents had been Force sensitive. If they were, had they known? Or had they been oblivious, like him? What kind of a pilot would he have been if he _didn't_ have the Force? Would he still be a good pilot, or would he just be average? Would he still be fighting for the Resistance, or would his mediocre flying completely miss General Organa's radar? Would he still be with the Republic?

He needed to figure out how to turn off his brain, because his usual morning flight ritual was not cutting it.

After a few hours, he returned to the base, and BB-8 whirled and beeped about how enjoyable the flight had been. At least someone had enjoyed it – he was still wondering what he was supposed to do with all of this. As he disembarked the plane, he saw Rey approaching him with Luke. He smiled as she approached him.

"Early morning flight?" she asked with a grin. He nodded – he knew that out of everyone on the base, Rey would appreciate his love of flight more than anyone else. She seemed to be in good spirits, despite the fact that their mission yesterday had been pretty much a failure in hindsight.

"Yeah, it helps me…clear my head," he explained. Rey nodded in understanding, and he wondered if she knew about Vaneli's conversation with him. Was this how his life was going to be now? Constantly wondering if people knew about his secrets? Constantly wondering if people were going to be sneaking into his head?

Damnit, he hadn't asked for this shit.

Luke gave him a knowing glance, and he knew without asking that Luke was sensing the same thing that Vaneli had sensed in him. That was not very comforting. He had been half hoping that Vaneli had been crazy and had completely made the whole thing up. Rey seemed…normal around him, though, and he noticed that she had her lightsaber with her. It provided a welcome change of subject.

"Are you guys going to train?" he asked. She nodded.

"We've been training with the lightsaber for the last week. Vaneli offered to spar with us too, and I have to say I'm excited to see what she's got," she admitted with a grin. Luke nodded in agreement, a small smile breaking on his face for the first time since Poe had run into them.

"Can I come with you?" Poe asked. He wasn't sure why he was asking that – hand to hand combat was not his thing. But he felt a weird tug to learn more about fighting with a lightsaber…it couldn't hurt to learn more about it, right? It was always safe to have a backup form of fighting in case…well, in case his ship got blown up again.

Rey blinked, and even Luke looked slightly taken aback, but she recovered quickly, nodding and grinning that wide, infectious grin of hers.

"Yeah, sure, I'm sure we can fit one more into our training session!"


	9. Teaching the Trade

Two minutes into training and Poe knew he had made a grave mistake.

When Vaneli heard that he was coming to train, she ditched her lightsaber and instead insisted he use a simple stick to learn to fight. Everyone had to start with a simple wooden pole, she insisted. Since he'd never fought with a saber before, he didn't blame her – he didn't want to accidentally hurt someone. He knew those things were vicious. That didn't scare him, though – it was Vaneli who scared him. Her reputation was turning out to be true – just watching her twirl the stick and move cat-like on her feet made his stomach churn. Maybe this was a bad idea. He had a feeling she was not going to go easy on him, and she was going to be every bit the tough fighter the stories had made her out to be.

Rey and Luke fought with their lightsabers about a yard or two away, and Vaneli helped him learn basic footwork, although it was kind of hard to concentrate. He kept glancing over at Rey and Luke, watching them in awe. He was pretty sure Rey had never been trained in combat before the Resistance found her, but being Luke's daughter must have brought it to her naturally. Both Luke and Rey fought like they had been doing it their whole lives, and it was amazing to watch. Green and blue light kept hitting each other with loud zapping noises, and it was chilling and graceful at the same time.

Vaneli had to (gently) tap him a few times with her own fighting pole to get his attention back on her.

Fighting with a weapon was definitely much more…sophisticated than fighting with a blaster. That was easy enough – just point and shoot and hope you make contact with something. He was pretty good with a blaster, but not nearly as good as some of the other fighters in the Resistance. He'd also been known to throw a few punches in a fight as well, but again, that was easy – swing and hope you made contact. But with a melee weapon, he had to hit with the right amount of strength or it wouldn't do anything, and he had to try and figure out which way Vaneli would be moving so he didn't get injured himself. There were a lot of moving parts, and as she explained the footwork and basic moves to him, he could see her eyes lighting up with excitement. She loved doing this, he could tell. She also insisted that if he used the Force, it would be easier. It would help him to figure out which way to move to avoid getting hit, and what moves would be appropriate to catch his opponent off guard.

"Now, use the Force to try and anticipate my movement," she instructed him. Poe nodded, but wasn't sure if he was going to be successful. All he could feel was his heartbeat pounding in his ears as she advanced on him. She'd shown him how to properly hold the stick and how to move his feet as he attacked, but all thought about the "proper" way to fight went out the window as all he focused on was not getting hit. He deflected one blow, and another, and another, and then, just as he began to think that maybe this wasn't so hard…

BOOM!

She took her stick and WHACK, she'd hit him right across the face, making contact hard with his jaw. He saw stars and immediately hit the ground, dropping his stick and dropping to all fours to try and regain his balance.

"Poe! Are you ok? I'm sorry, I didn't…I swear I thought you would deflect it!" she told him, dropping to the ground next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

All he did in response was groan. Damn, she had an awful lot of faith in him to just _get it_ right off the bat, didn't she? Or had she just been testing him to see if he would fail spectacularly? How embarrassing. His beautiful jaw was sure to bruise because of this. Suddenly, he felt a rush of warmth where her hand connected with his shoulder, along with that feeling of comfort in his stomach that he'd felt the day before, and suddenly he felt his strength return. She wasn't the only one with tricks, after all. He smirked to himself and felt for his stick, taking it and swinging at her legs at an attempt to throw her off her feet while she had her guard down.

Except she sensed his attack. She jumped and then…tackled him.

He should have known she was going to do that – after all, she'd been on guard pretty much 24/7 for her entire life, and she had him flat on his back now. Had he really thought he'd be able to outsmart her? She was on top of him, her face inches from his. He could practically see every line in her brilliant red lips from this proximity, and he could smell her shampoo – she smelled like pine needles. It was…relaxing, for some reason. She grinned and sat up, looking triumphant as she got to her feet.

"Nice try, Dameron," she told him, offering a hand to help him up. His jaw was pounding where she had hit him, and he was pretty sure he'd bit his lip. He could taste blood. The spots were gone from his vision, at least.

"I think I like flying better than this," he mumbled, although he couldn't help but notice that he was smiling at her. It gave him a rush, fighting physically like this – not like when he was flying, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. His jaw was killing him, but he wanted to pick up that wooden stick and give it another shot. He could figure out this Force thing, right?

"Well, how about you stick to flying, and I'll stick to fighting with the lightsaber, yeah?' she suggested with a joking grin, but he knew that there was a shred of truth in there.

 _Oh_. She was scared of flying. He could feel it – just the mere mention of it scared her. He could feel the ripple of fear radiating off of her, but it was quickly pushed to the side as she cleared her throat and motioned for him to rearm himself. He wondered if maybe, someday soon, _he'd_ be teaching her a thing or two about _his_ trade.

He wasn't going to give up easily. He picked the stick up and held it steady in his palms.

"Alright, let's try again – can you try and avoid my face this time, though?" he asked.

* * *

 _ **Kamino**_

"Skywalker has been found. He's at their base – along with Vaneli," Kylo confirmed to Snoke.

The Supreme Leader nodded slowly, and Kylo knew that he was disappointed in his daughter. Kylo was disappointed in her too – he had thought that she was his ally, but he'd learned throughout the past few weeks that it had all been a lie. She'd been sympathetic to the Resistance this whole time, but as soon as they'd discovered this, they'd figured out a way to use it to their advantage, as they always did. It was a shame she got away before they had the chance to dispose of her, though.

"Did Hux tell you that she sensed the Force in Dameron?" Snoke asked him. Kylo tensed, knowing that he was about to be reprimanded for not sensing it in the pilot when they'd had him captured. He hadn't even thought about it at the time. All that mattered had been the map, and even though Poe had been resistant, he had broken him eventually, making the pilot a mere afterthought to him.

"Yes. I'm sorry Supreme Leader, I didn't…"

He raised his wrinkled hand and waved it, signaling that he should be quiet.

"He is not a threat. As much as Vaneli tries to boast her powers, she is not a threat either," he assured him. Kylo smirked to himself, thinking about the night that Vaneli had broken into his mind. He hadn't realized at the time, having been deeply asleep, but he realized when he woke up that she had seen his visions. The ones he had worked so hard to build in his brain, to make them visually believable…

He was staring at an army now, but it was not an army of droids as she had seen in his mind. It was an army of clones, thousands of them, much more advanced than they had been in the day of the Empire. The Kaminoans had really outdone themselves this time, and been able to create clones that skipped the entire childhood process. They were formed as adults, and as soon as they were activated, they knew nothing other than fighting. The Jango Fett prototype had finally been perfected. They all stood at attention, awaiting orders.

"It's time the Resistance falls, once and for all," Snoke declared, and Kylo couldn't help but feel himself beaming with pride.

* * *

 _ **Naboo**_

Vaneli felt happy for the first time in…well, forever.

She had been training with Rey and Luke for over a week now, and Poe had been coming every once in a while as well. She found herself looking forward to the days that he joined them, even though she still beat him terribly every time they fought. She'd even let him use her lightsaber, disconnecting the two halves and letting him use one. He had made _some_ improvement, but he was still going to be a pilot first and foremost, she knew that.

Finn had also joined them a few times, and even though Vaneli knew he wasn't Force sensitive, he was much better than Poe when it came to using a saber. She teased Poe about it mercilessly.

One day after her training session with Rey and Luke, she found Poe waiting for her in his flight suit. Had he just come back from a flight? He'd finally acquired another X-Wing, which was his preferred ship, and he still took flights nearly every day so he could be alone with his thoughts. He was never truly alone, though, as Vaneli still couldn't shake the annoying bond she seemed to have with his brain. Neither of them had said anything about it to the other, although she knew he sensed it too. Right now, she tried to push it aside, but it continued to linger in the back of her mind, growing stronger the more she tried to ignore it.

"So, I had an idea," he told her as she approached. Vaneli wrinkled her eyebrows. She tried to read into his mind to see what he was up to, but she couldn't.

"Oh?" she asked. He took her hand and pulled her towards the hanger, where BB-8 was waiting next to his X-Wing. She couldn't help but notice how warm his hand felt in hers. It made her pulse race.

"I'm going to teach you to fly," he told her. Vaneli's heart sank and she shook her head, stopping abruptly in her tracks.

"No."

"Yes! Come on, it'll be fun. I'll be there with you, nothing bad will happen, I promise," he insisted. She shook her head adamantly again.

"No, Poe, I'm…I don't think I can express just how terrible I am at flying. I like to stay here, on the ground," she told him. Poe flashed her a cheeky grin and she felt heat erupt in her belly. Whenever he flashed those pearly whites at her, it was hard to say no to him.

"Please?" he asked her, puffing out his lower lip and giving him that puppy dog pout. Damn. Why was it that she was putty in his hands? She had promised herself she would never bend her will to anyone after she escaped the Order, and yet here she was, submitting to the will of a simple Resistance pilot.

She took a deep breath and felt a reassuring wave of comfort wash over her. She would be safe with Poe – even if she was terrified out of her mind.

"Ok, fine. But only a short flight," she told him. Poe pumped his fist in the air triumphantly and stood on the ladder, holding out a hand to help her up into the cockpit.

He had an extra helmet for her, and he sat her between his legs so he could help her with the controls. "This was how my mom taught me to fly," he told her. Vaneli bit her lip. She knew a bit about his mother – against her will, of course, because of that pesky connection with him – and knew that he always felt a connection to her when he flew. It was part of the reason he was such a powerful pilot. He was letting her in to a very sensitive part of his life, she realized. It made her feel…warm. Like she was special to him.

He closed the cockpit and they were forced closer to each other, his chest pressed against her back and his arms wrapped around her. He gently took her hands and placed them on the handles of joystick, placing his hands around hers. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She knew that he sensed her nerves, and he lightly ran his fingers over her knuckles in a reassuring sort of way. It felt like electricity had struck her where he'd touched her – it was a new sensation for her, and she couldn't figure out what it meant, but it was doing nothing to help her nerves. It was making it worse.

They drove the ship out of the hanger and he helped her take off, and as they got higher and higher, her heart rate increased with anxiety. He didn't take them out of the atmosphere and instead flew above the trees, his hands staying steady on top of hers. She really wasn't doing a lot, but she still felt nervous and was afraid she'd do something to cause them to crash.

"Alright, push down slightly and take the plane down just a bit," he told her. She took a deep breath and ever so slowly pushed down on the controls. The ship dipped, along with her stomach, but she felt the wave of reassurance radiating from Poe and he leaned in close to her.

"Just like that," he said softly. Although their helmets separated them, she could practically feel his hot breath on her ear. Her heart soared and she suddenly found herself pulling on the controls, raising the ship up.

"Whoa, slow down there, tiger!" he chuckled, gripping her hands and taking control of the steering once again. She blushed.

"Sorry, I got…a little nervous," she explained. He laughed again and gripped her hands a little tighter.

"Don't worry, I'm here…nothing is going to happen as long as I'm here," he told her softly. For some reason, she felt like his words were twofold – he wasn't just talking about flying, was he?

Her heartbeat was ringing in her ears – but it was much too loud. No, she could _hear his_ heartbeat as well. She could feel him becoming nervous, and after another lap around the trees surrounding the base, he announced that it was probably time to land again.

They hadn't been in the air long, probably only a few minutes, but she felt like they had been flying for hours. She wanted to kiss the ground when she finally hopped out of the plane. Her nerves weren't from the flying, though – she suddenly felt awkward and strange around Poe. Being in the cockpit with him, she'd felt a type of electricity between them that she hadn't anticipated and it was scaring her. Vaneli did not get scared easily – but this whole connection between them was starting to rattle her to her core.

At the same time – it was terrifying in an intriguing way. It was alarming, but also made her want to spend even more time with him to continue to explore the connection.

"Thank you, that was…well, utterly terrifying," she said with a joking smile, and she found him laughing in return. Whatever it was, she was sure he felt it too – but he was smiling and pushing it aside, just like she was doing now.

"I knew if we stayed up there much longer, you'd probably pass out or have a heart attack or something," he joked in reply. _Probably, but not because of fear,_ she found herself thinking.

"Well, maybe next time I won't be as nervous," she told him. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and then looked down at her boots.

"I think I'm going to take a nap. Luke and Rey really worked me hard today in training," she told him, making up any excuse to try and get away from him so she could think about all this. Yet, as she looked up at him, his hair all tussled from his helmet and his brown eyes looking at her intently, she didn't _want_ to run. She wanted to stay here, with him, all day – a thought that was just as terrifying as flying.

"You uh…you did good today, Vannie," Poe told her with a grin. Vaneli felt herself blushing again – she was doing that a lot lately, and it was embarrassing. How was it that she had become completely unraveled like this in the course of just a half an hour or so?

"Vannie?" she questioned his new nickname for her, and this time, it was him who blushed, looking at his boots as he chuckled.

"Yeah…it suits you," he told her with a grin.

"I like it," she said.

"Good."


	10. Execution

_What on Earth were you thinking, Dameron?_

Poe was in the refresher, lukewarm water spilling over his face. He kept replaying the flying lesson he'd had with Vaneli that day, replaying every single touch and brush of skin he'd experienced. He hadn't anticipated any of that when he'd offered to take her in the air – he'd just thought it would be fun, and he wanted to repay the favor and show her his trade, just as she had shown him his. It had been innocent and had turned into something far more.

Every time he thought of it, his heart pounded and he felt like his entire body was…tingling. That was the best way to describe it. He could feel her apprehension and nervousness, but what scared him the most was that he knew she felt the same feelings he did whenever they touched. They'd made contact plenty of times before, of course – he'd had his ass handed to him numerous times when they'd been fighting, but never had it felt that intimate.

He couldn't stop thinking of the smell of her, of the feeling of comfort he felt whenever he was around her, of her thick hips and her slender frame…

He'd had an erection for the past ten minutes as he thought of the events of the day, and he couldn't take it anymore. He knew he was treading into dangerous waters, and she could very well break into his mind at any minute and sense all of these new feelings in him, but he couldn't give two shits about that right now. As the water spilled over him, his hand gripped his cock and began to move anxiously, picturing her under him, completely naked, head being thrown back in pleasure as he moved within her, hands tangled in his hair…

All of a sudden, the panic alarm went off, scaring the crap out of Poe who hastily dropped his hands. _Shit._ It was late, and the General was not one to have surprise attack drills in the middle of the night. He felt his heart sink. This could not be good.

He hastily shut the water off, and his head was finally clear again for the first time in hours. As the alarm blared, he grabbed the first pair of pants and shirt that he could find and threw his boots on in a hurry. BB-8 whirled to life in his charging dock as Poe commanded him to follow him, his hand running anxiously through his wet curls.

He knew that he should run to his ship, gather his squadron, and prepare for battle. As soon as he stepped out of his quarters, however, and he saw the obvious panic in the Resistance fighters who ran past him, half dressed and half asleep, looking completely confused, he knew he was going somewhere else.

"Get to the ship and wait for me there," he instructed BB-8 before he turned on his heel and hurried down towards Vaneli's quarters.

* * *

For the second time in just a matter of weeks, Vaneli was rudely awakened from her sleep by a loud attack alarm.

Jumping out of bed, she grabbed her lightsaber out of instinct and looked around for her boots. She was wearing a light pair of leggings and a simple t-shirt for pajamas, and those would just have to do. Something told her that this wasn't just a drill; this was something else. _The Order and their droids,_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly, the door opened and Vaneli quickly drew her lightsaber, igniting it and standing at the ready. Instead of finding a First Order soldier, it was only Poe, who looked at her saber with wide eyes. His hair was wild and he looked just as frazzled as she felt, and she knew her suspicions were confirmed – he was just as panicked as she was, and this was no drill.

"It's just me. Come on, we have to go!" he told her. He hurried to her and grabbed her hand, dragging her with him. She put away her saber and followed him without question.

Vaneli felt her heart speed up in rhythm. Poe knew that she was a grown woman and perfectly capable of finding her way to the ships on her own – yet he'd come to get her and make sure she was ok. Her cheeks began to heat up and she tried not to focus on that as they ran through the base. They had more important things to worry about right now.

A loud booming noise came from across the base, accompanied by a rumble of thunder that caused the entire base to shake, and Vaneli went tumbling into Poe. He caught her quickly and helped her to her feet, their hands holding onto each other even tighter as they kept going.

"That can't be good," he grumbled as they approached the hanger. Instead of being greeted by more panicked Resistance fighters, Vaneli felt her heart sink into her stomach as she took in the sight in front of her.

That wasn't an army of droids in front of her. It was an army of Stormtroopers. An army of _clones._

She could tell they were clones because instead of wearing the typical white, they wore all black uniforms to show that they were different than the typical Stormtrooper. When they had first started talking about clones – an idea that Hux was very adamant to shoot down at every turn – they'd thrown out the idea of making them wear black uniforms to make them stand out amongst the other troopers. The ones who had been fellow soldiers of Finn at one point were still there in the skirmish, wearing their typical white uniforms, but they were small in number compared to the other ones. Shit, this was wrong, _all wrong_ …

The army was moving through the entire Resistance base, taking out any ship or person that was in their way. No one was even stopping to try and fight – they were all running for their lives, trying to get out of the base with anything they could grab. The warehouses off the main base were already completely engulfed in flames – she could see the smoke all the way from here, clouding the starry sky that she could see from the open hanger. Fighters were loading up cargo ships with people and any supplies they could grab, scrambling to take off before the ship was taken out by a rocket or torpedo. A few were successful – and a few were not, erupting in to flames in their futile attempt to outrun the soldiers.

This wasn't just a surprise attack. This was a full blown execution.

"We have to get to my ship," Poe said, getting ready to lead her into the fray and make a run for it before someone grabbed them and pulled them into a nearby hallway.

It was Luke. He looked extremely concerned and was staring at Vaneli in a way that made her feel like he could see into her very soul. For the first time ever, she felt scared of the old Jedi master. She knew that he was disappointed in her for giving them false information, and he was scanning her to see if she had been telling the truth. She tried to tell him silently that she had really, truly believed it was an army of droid soldiers that the Order had been building, but she couldn't read him. She couldn't tell if it was working.

"This is not a droid army," he told her sternly. Vaneli bit her lip, her eyes starting to well up in tears. She'd tried to help the Resistance and she couldn't even do _that_ without fucking everything up. The weight of it all started to crush her, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I know, I…I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened," she told him. Poe's hand still had not left hers, and he gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"You were tricked, that's what happened," Luke told her. He reached forward and grabbed her lightsaber, unscrewing the middle of it and, to her surprise, opening the inner compartment. He dumped it open and a tiny blue disk fell into his hand. A homing beacon.

The realization of it all started to dawn on her. She'd led the Order right to them and she hadn't even known it. Tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"I was a distraction. I tried to help and instead…I messed everything up!" she cried, and Poe pulled her into a tight hug.

Luke put a comforting hand on her shoulder as well. "Vaneli, you couldn't have known. This beacon was likely there ever since you got this weapon from Snoke – you tried to help. They just outsmarted us this time, and now…we have to leave," he told them. As if on queue, another blast shook the compound, and Vaneli heard a loud crash somewhere that sounded like a wall caving in.

"Get to your ship, Poe, and get out of here. Put in the coordinates for Cloud City and leave with Vaneli, now," he ordered them.

Poe bit his lip. "What about you?" he asked.

Luke shook his head. "Don't worry about me. Don't worry about anyone except her – these are _orders._ Now go!" he cried, this time pushing them out of the hall and back into the hanger.

Without a second thought, Poe took off, and Vaneli followed. Troopers and clones were shooting at them from every direction and thankfully missing, although a few blasts skimmed just past her elbows or clipped the very bottom of her blonde hair. Poe's X-Wing was, thankfully, unharmed for now, although she couldn't see any of his fellow pilots around. She hoped they all got out ok…

Finn. Rey. Luke. Leia. She had no idea where any of them were, and there was so much going on, she couldn't use the Force to locate them. Poe's determination to make it out of here alive was completely clouding her brain, but it was helping her move along with him, just as determined to get out of here.

"Beebee Ate, ready to go?" he called, and Vaneli saw that the little droid had beaten them there, hiding in his compartment in the ship out of the line of fire. The droid beeped, and Poe began to climb the ladder, with Vaneli right on his tail.

"Over there! It's the pilot!" a trooper called to his fellow soldiers, and blasts started to go off all around them. One nearly got Vaneli's leg as she swung it into the cockpit, sitting in between Poe's legs just as she had done earlier in the day. He clicked the ship alive with a few switches and pushes of buttons, and before she knew it, they were moving.

If anyone was getting a ship out of here in one piece, it was Poe Dameron.

Putting her helmet on, she tried to make herself as small as possible, as Poe had to reach around her and pilot with her in between him. It didn't seem to faze him, though, as he still maneuvered the ship as if nothing was amiss. He shot his blaster cannon at any soldier that was nearby, clearing a path for himself out of the hanger. He didn't care about the troopers who were shooting at him, or the fact that he had an extra passenger – he was just going to get out of here.

"Hold on!" he cried, and as soon as he was facing the runaway, he hit the gas. Vaneli shut her eyes, trying to not focus on how fast and how high they were going, and instead focused on the rush of adrenaline she could sense from Poe. This was fueling him, and BB-8 beeped excitedly as they climbed higher and higher and finally out of the atmosphere.

An Order ship was orbiting the planet, sending out more and more ships full of more Stormtroopers with every passing moment. If people didn't get out of the base soon, they were going to be slaughtered – and Vaneli could sense that Ren was on the ship, along with Hux.

"Poe, we have to get into lightspeed, _now_ ," she told him. Any more time in the air, and they'd risk being blown to smithereens by the Order. She could already feel that Ren was starting to sense in on her presence.

"On it," he told her, and with a few more clicks and button pushes, they took off into hyperspace, leaving Naboo – and for all they knew, all of their friends – behind.

* * *

Coms were completely down, which was not an assuring sign at all. Poe was obviously concerned that he couldn't contact any of his friends and fellow fighters, but that wasn't the main goal right now. He had to get to Cloud City, and only once he got there would he be able to find out who had made it off the base.

As they entered the atmosphere of Bespin, the com finally beeped to life and they heard an unfamiliar voice come over the system. "Commander Dameron, we've identified your ship in the atmosphere. Permission to land at the Administrator's Palace granted," the voice told them. They had few options but to trust the voice right now, and followed the coordinates that were sent to the ship.

When they touched down, Poe finally recognized someone coming out of the palace to greet them – Lando Calrissian. He didn't know him very well, but he knew his face, and he knew that he was a respected war hero and likely the reason they were going to be safe on Bespin. As they disembarked, he greeted Poe warmly with a hug even though they had never actually talked to one another.

"You're the legendary Poe Dameron, I take it?" he asked him with a laugh. Lando was no longer Administrator of the planet, but despite his years he still had a fresh face and a joking demeanor that immediately made him feel at ease.

"And who's this lovely lady?" he asked, turning to Vaneli and holding out a hand for a shake. Vaneli blushed and shook his head, and Poe felt himself smile for the first time since the attack on the base.

"This is Vaneli, General Calrissian," he told him. Lando laughed and shook his head.

"Please, Poe, I haven't been a General in decades. I retired from that life – but I'm always here to help General Organa," he told him. As he explained it, Poe got the sensation that something was off. There was a hint of…sadness in Lando's voice.

"What's happened, Lando? Has anyone else from the base made it?" he asked. Lando sighed and his playful smile vanished, and he beckoned for them to follow him into the palace. They obliged, although Poe was afraid of what he would discover in there.

"Three transport ships full of about…fifty or so soldiers each made it. Two of your squadron, a girl and a young man, made it as well," he told him. Jess and Snap, Poe knew instantly. "And while they haven't made it yet, Luke made it out with Rey and that young man, the stormtrooper," he told them.

Poe let out a sigh of relief before he realized that someone was missing in the list that Lando had rattled off.

"What about the General? What happened to Leia?" he asked. Lando stopped and looked at him, the sadness evident in his old eyes.

"I'm afraid…she's been taken by the Order," he told him.


	11. A Proposal

Vaneli couldn't help but feel like this was all her fault. She'd led the entire Order straight to the Resistance base without even realizing it, and now had the deaths of hundreds of soldiers on her hands – and Leia's kidnapping. It was late and Lando had insisted they try not to worry about it until morning, but she couldn't shut off her brain. She knew that she hadn't done it on purpose, that would have been completely different, but still…they were in this mess right now because of her. _Poe should have just killed me when he had the chance._

It didn't help that she had no weapon by her side anymore. She missed her lightsaber. She should have known Snoke would have planted a homing device on it before he gave it to her. It would have been foolish for him not to, knowing how attached she was to it.

The rooms they had been provided at the palace were extremely spacious and had gorgeous views of the sky, although Vaneli had to admit it was a little weird knowing they were floating in the atmosphere of a planet that had no actual surface. It was a different sensation than floating in a ship or a space station and would take some getting used to. She was lying in her bed, staring out at the night sky, trying not to think about everything that had happened and failing miserably. She wished Poe was lying next to her. She missed the feeling of his hand clasping hers, and the whole time they had been running for their lives, she'd known she would be ok as long as she stuck with him. She closed her eyes and grabbed an extra pillow, cuddling it to her and wishing it was him. Did he wish these same things as well? Would it have been completely uncalled for to get up and go ask him to spend the night with her? Was he lying awake in bed too, wondering that same thing? They had just suffered something traumatic, that wouldn't be too odd of a request after that, right?

 _I wish you were here, Poe._

 _I am here._

She shot up in bed, startled. Had she imagined that? His voice in her head right now? Or was that their pesky connection again? It had been as if he was right behind her, whispering it in her ear. She had goose bumps, as if she actually _had_ felt his hot breath on her ear.

No, she had to have imagined that. She had never communicated with anyone through the Force before, and as she lay in bed, she closed her eyes and focused on Poe, who was just a few rooms away – he was asleep. Unless he was talking to her in his sleep, she had imagined it.

Or… _had_ he talked to her in his sleep? Suddenly wide awake and very intrigued, she closed her eyes and tried to focus in on him again.

 _It's all my fault. So many lives lost because of me._

 _Don't think that. There's nothing you could have done._

It was unmistakably Poe speaking to her – but in his sleep. Perhaps this was all a dream to him, but she knew that she was awake and he was subconsciously using the Force to communicate with her. Her heart raced. This connection between them, once a nuisance, was slowly turning into a lifeline for her. She had once hoped it would vanish, but now she found herself treasuring it. She had continuously asked herself why this connection existed, why some stupid pilot was able to drive her mad and make her crumble to pieces with just a flash of his smile, and now she knew.

There was no other reason for the connection to be this strong unless – she had feelings for him. In return, he had to have feelings for her too…right? She knew he did. She'd felt it, felt his admiration for her and the way his heart skipped a beat when they touched. She knew it was true for her, but was it true for him?

 _I love you, Poe._

She waited, but nothing came. He was now deeply asleep, the connection lost between them. She bit her lip and sighed. It had been nice while it lasted…and now she wondered if he had even heard what she said last. Would he remember this in the morning? Or would it just be a dream to him?

She closed her eyes and finally started to drift asleep, now much calmer and more reassured than she had been just a few moments ago.

* * *

Poe woke up, feeling very rested and refreshed. That feeling didn't last long, though, when he remembered the events of the night before. Leia was stuck with the Order, and over three quarters of their troops and supplies had been lost. It was a crushing blow.

But, on the bright side – he was alive. Vaneli was alive. Finn, Rey, and Luke were all alive and probably here by now, nestled safely in their own rooms. At least, he hoped they were. He knew Vaneli was strong enough in the Force to be able to tell if they were there, but he still hadn't gotten there yet. He didn't think he ever would. The only thing this Force thing seemed to be good for was creating connections with beautiful women who drove him mad.

He sat up and noticed that on the chair, there was a fresh clean tunic and pants, along with a new pair of boots. There was a note on it, and he groggily wandered over and read the paper – he was invited to breakfast in ten minutes.

Putting on his new clothes and feeling grateful for the feel of soft, clean fabric on his skin, he headed down the hall, wondering if Vaneli was up yet. He was going to check, but he was running late for this little breakfast gathering he'd been invited to.

He didn't have to wonder for very long, because just as he was about to enter the large conference room where they would be eating, he ran right into Vaneli.

Not physically, of course – there was no way he would have been able to miss her because she was practically _sparkling_. She was wearing a light blue dress that faded down to silver as it hit the floor. It was off the shoulder but had quarter length sleeves covering her arms. When she stopped and moved, the light danced off it and it glittered in the sun coming through the windows. She was breathtaking.

"Vannie, you look…" he stopped dead in his tracks, unable to stop staring at her. She stopped and blushed, gripping the sides of the dress and lifting them up and giving them a little twirl.

"Yeah, I uh…I don't do dresses," she chuckled, her face turning nearly as red as her lips. Poe couldn't stop himself. He stared and stared, looking at her beautiful face and how happy she looked when he complimented her. The dress outlined her body perfectly, and he had to resist the urge to waltz right up to her and scoop her up in his arms…

"Why? I mean, uh…you should. You definitely should. You look…stunning," he told her. Now _he_ was the one blushing. Great.

Thankfully, before he could say anything else foolish, the door opened and Luke was there. Poe let out a sigh of relief that the Jedi Master had finally made it, and he noted that Vaneli was smiling as well.

"Glad to see you two made it here in one piece," Luke told them, a soft smile dancing on his lips even though Poe knew he was probably upset and worried for his sister. Although, Poe had a feeling he knew that he had interrupted an awkward conversation and got some sort of amusement out of that.

"Poe! Vaneli!" Rey appeared behind him, pushing him aside and throwing her arms around Poe in a tight hug. She was wearing a dress similar to Vaneli's, with shorter sleeves and green in color, but he didn't have a chance to look at it very well because she let him go and then threw her arms around Vaneli as well. Poe had to bite his lip to stop himself from chuckling – he knew Vaneli had not been expecting that and she looked extremely uncomfortable at the embrace, arms pinned to her sides like she was frozen. It was cute.

 _Pull yourself together, Dameron!_ He mentally scolded himself, but he couldn't help it. She just looked…utterly beautiful. Not that she wasn't always beautiful but…after last night, he appreciated it more. Something in his brain made him feel like his connection with her was even stronger for some reason. He couldn't figure out why, but the tug he had been feeling towards her seemed like it was about to break from the tension. It was driving him mad.

It was clear immediately that this was not just a breakfast – this was a meeting as well. Lando was accompanied by a woman that Poe did not recognize, but she was dressed much nicer than anyone else in the room, so it was a good guess that she was the new Administrator of the city. Finn was already digging in to his food, but he stopped when his friends arrived and ran up to greet them, throwing his arms around Poe and then giving Vaneli a hug as well (which she stiffly accepted just as she had with Rey). After they expressed how relieved they all were to be alive, they were motioned over to the table by Lando and invited to begin eating.

Poe hadn't realized how ravenously hungry he had been until just now. He was absolutely starved, and in a matter of minutes he had cleared two plates of food. As the weary soldiers began to regain energy after eating, conversation began to turn to strategy.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce Administer Solina, who has agreed to side with the Resistance and lend our small – but strong – army of soldiers to your ranks," Lando announced. Poe smiled and gave a nod of appreciation to the woman, who could have only been a few years older than him. Despite her smile and loose red curls, he could tell that the woman was serious and no-nonsense. The perfect sort of person to be a leader. The way she held herself told him everything about her style of rule. He was very good at picking up the personality traits of leaders and sensing who would be good – and who would be terrible.

 _Duh, that's the Force,_ his brain reminded him. Right. That made sense now.

His eyes glanced over at Vaneli, who was sitting across from him. She was still eating, so he stole a long glance at her. The way her dress accentuated her collarbone was maddening, he wanted to reach other there and plant kisses all along it…

 _Seriously, get a GRIP Dameron, what the hell is wrong with you?_ He had never been this…enamored by a woman before. Or a man, for that matter.

Just then, the doors open, and in walked two people Poe had not been expecting- but he was nevertheless excited to see.

"Snap! Jess!" he exclaimed, jumping up and running to them. Snap let out a yell of excitement that his commander was alive and hugged him, and Jess joined in to create a Black Squadron group hug. They too had been provided new outfits – Jess' dress was black, how fitting. She looked adorable as well, but had nothing on Vaneli.

"Damn, I didn't realize we were invited to the big kid's table," Snap said with a chuckle as he took in the group that they would be joining.

"Please, you two are both treasured members of this Resistance and deserve to be here just as much as anyone else," Solina told them, gesturing for them to take a seat. Poe flashed both of his friends hearty grins as they took their seats and he returned to his own seat as well. Now that the table was full, he knew the real talk was about to begin.

"I'm sure you're aware that we invited you here for more than just a friendly meal," Solina begin as everyone began to finish their plates, and they nodded. The heavy weight that had been lingering over them was finally coming down on them – Leia was a hostage and the Order had delivered a devastating blow to them. This was serious, and they had to think of how to overcome it.

"We're sure Leia is alive, right?" Finn asked, and Luke nodded.

"Definitely. She's valuable, and Ren is more…attached to her than he ever was Han," he explained softly. He saw Lando stiffen and look at his plate in sadness – Poe knew he was close with Han, and was probably still reeling from the loss of his good friend.

"He won't let anything happen to her. Not at the present time," Luke added, which made Poe's stomach drop. He knew what that meant. Ren loved his mother, and would keep her around as long as it suited him. He had killed his father in cold blood – no doubt, if pushed to the limit, he would do the same to her. What a monster.

"I'm confident that word will travel fast of the Resistance's need to gather more soldiers and volunteers will come flocking to the city," Solina continued. Poe wrinkled his eyebrows.

"What makes you so sure?" he asked.

"Leia is loved by the entire galaxy. Resistance and Republic members alike were on her side – when the word of her capture spreads, I'm sure you'll find yourself with more troops. I understand a good handful of them managed to escape Naboo as well – a few more ships came in this morning," she added. Poe nodded. That was good news at least. More had survived than they initially thought.

"So, first things first…we need to figure out how to get Leia back. They have to be holding her hostage for some reason, and without that bargaining chip, they won't be able to make a move," Lando stated. Everyone around the table nodded in agreement, but no one seemed to have any ideas. It was quiet for some time, before finally, to Poe's surprise, it was Jess who spoke up.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. Everyone turned to look at her in confusion, and she bit her lip before looking directly at Poe.

"We have to trade Vaneli for her."


	12. Snapped

No one really handled the suggestion all that well.

Rey gasped and dropped her glass in shock, shattering it. Luke stared at the young pilot in disbelief and Finn yelled out "What?!" in surprise, but that was nothing compared to Vaneli herself. At first, she didn't react at all. Then, without a word, she stood up and threw her napkin on her plate angrily before retreating out of the hall. Poe wanted to run after her, but he could feel the anger radiating off her and felt that at this moment – maybe that wasn't the best idea. He had something else to deal with.

He glared at Jess, disappointed with her for the first time in his life. "Are you crazy!? We can't send her back there! They'll kill her!" he exclaimed.

"Poe, think about it," she snapped at him, standing to stare down at him. " _She's_ the reason this all happened. We propose a trade – the General for Vaneli. It's a small sacrifice to get her back, and Vaneli knows all about our secrets, I'm sure they'd want to keep her around for that reason," she explained. Poe couldn't believe how _coldly_ she was talking about all this.

"We'd be right back in the same situation we're in now," Rey pointed out. Poe nodded in agreement, his hands gripping the table to stop himself from lunging at Jess from across the table.

"They'll never trade Leia for her, even if they said they would – they'd go back on their word. The Order doesn't play fair like that," Finn added.

"And the attack was not her fault," Luke told Jess sternly. He could tell the Jedi Master disapproved of the plan as well, but Poe could feel the tension in the room. He looked at Solina and could tell that she was toying with the idea. Snap was also awkwardly silent, which was unlike him, so he knew that he sided with Jess as well. It seemed like there was a divide forming, much to his dismay.

"No. I won't allow it," he told them sternly. He was so angry now he could barely see straight. Standing up, he pushed his chair away so roughly that it crashed to the floor behind him, and he stormed out of the room. He wanted to find Vaneli and let her know it would be ok, that he would never let them trade her for Leia…

 _Don't come looking for me, Poe._

Poe stopped abruptly, hearing Vaneli's voice in his head. Was that really her voice? Or…was he imagining it? No, it was definitely her. He'd felt the anger and rage coming from her, practically consuming him. As much as he wanted to comfort her, she didn't want anything to do with anyone right now. He didn't blame her, but…that didn't stop him from feeling like he needed to be with her, to do something…he could sense that she was scared, afraid that they would actually propose the trade, and he had to assure her that he wouldn't let them do that to her…

He took another step forward….

 _I mean it! Leave me alone!_

He stopped, her voice practically screaming in his head, and his abrupt stop caused someone to walk into him.

Poe jumped, his brain so in tune to Vaneli's anger and fear that he turned around and reached out in front of him without really realizing what he was doing. The next thing he knew, Finn was pushed backwards into the wall – not hard, but still, he could tell he had shocked him. Hell, he'd shocked himself. Blinking and staring at his outstretched hand, he pulled back.

Shit. He'd just used the Force to physically move something. Or rather, someone.

"Finn! I'm so sorry, I don't…."

"Fuck, man. You have the Force?" Finn asked him, his eyes growing wide.

"Nevermind that, are you hurt?" Poe asked instead. Finn stared at him a minute more and then shook his head, laughing.

"No, I'm not. How come you never told me?"

"It's a, uh…new development," he explained. Finn just laughed, and Poe wanted to tell him that it wasn't funny, he could have seriously hurt him…but he had to admit, that was certainly a dramatic way to let his friend in on this little secret he'd been hiding.

Still, he was anxious to get to Vaneli, something that Finn clearly sensed, and his smile faded.

"Sit," Finn told him, pointing to a nearby sofa. Poe sat down and looked around. He had been blindly storming through the palace, he realized, and wasn't sure he was anywhere near Vaneli's room. There were too many damn hallways in this place. Still, it was nice to be out of that conference room, and even though the anger coming from Vaneli was still utterly consuming him, he knew she was nearby, and that was comforting.

"We're not going to let them trade her," Finn assured him. Poe shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't believe…what the hell is Jess thinking? How could she even suggest such a thing?" he said in shock. He felt like he'd been stabbed in the back. How could one of his best friends do that to him?

"I think…she might be jealous," Finn told him quietly. Poe did not expect that and stared at him in shock.

"Wait, what? Jealous of what?" he asked.

"You and Vaneli, obviously. I mean…it's pretty clear you two, you know… _like_ each other," he told him, smiling softly. Poe blinked. He had been so focused on his connection with her, he hadn't even thought about how it appeared to other people. Had he really been _that_ obvious? Was _she_ that obvious?

"Still, I mean, even if…and I'm not saying it _is_ but…she knows they'll kill her, right? She's basically suggesting murder!" he exclaimed. Finn patted his shoulder in a comforting way.

"Calm down Poe, I told you – we won't do it. Rey won't let them, I won't let them, and Luke won't let them. The numbers are on our side, and I'm pretty positive you'll personally take down anyone who tries to do it," he added with another smile. Poe took a few deep breaths. His friend was right – thankfully, the majority of them had their sanity and wouldn't let it happen. Still, the thought of it even possibly happening was maddening.

He sighed and looked at his hands. After a few more seconds of silence, Finn started talking again.

"So, this Force thing…that's new, huh?" he asked with a small chuckle.

Poe felt himself smile against his will and nodded. "Well, I mean, I guess it was always there, but I just….realized it now. Vaneli told me about it, and I thought she was crazy at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. It helps my piloting, and helps me read people, and…I dunno. There's some sort of connection or something between me and her. I can sense her feelings, even when she isn't nearby, and…" his voice trailed off because he wasn't really sure _how_ to describe it. There was no way to describe it – you just had to feel it. He also wasn't too keen on telling his friend that he could hear her voice in his head – that might be a bit weird, even for someone who understood how deeply complicated the Force was.

Finn nodded in understanding. They sat quietly for a few more minutes before Finn stood up.

"Listen, Poe – I promise you, we won't let anything happen to her. You'd do the same for me and Rey, right?" he asked with a soft smile. Poe looked at his friend and blinked. So…that confirmed it, huh? He wanted to ask him if he had done anything yet, acted on his feelings…but suddenly he felt a tug. It felt like a tug on his heart, and he knew that now was the time to go find Vaneli.

"Thank you, Finn," he told him, standing up and giving his friend a tight hug before turning and heading to Vaneli's quarters.

* * *

Poe could feel her anger and frustration pumping through his own veins. Or perhaps that was his own anger at the situation. He couldn't quite tell. He couldn't believe that people in the Resistance actually wanted to turn over an innocent girl to the Order. They wanted to return her to the hell that she had endured for years, all over petty jealousy.

Well, if they forced her to go through with this, they were going to be scared of _him_ next. No, no, he wouldn't even let it get to that point. They were going to have to kill him before they even got a hand on her.

He approached her room, and this time, he could sense her sadness. She was scared of possibly having to return to that monster, and he didn't blame her in the slightest. He knocked on the door, even though he was positive she knew he was there.

"Vannie? It's Poe, open up," he called to her. He heard movement and she obliged instantly.

She had been crying, he could tell. There were pillows thrown around the room, which she'd obviously thrown around in her fit of anger, and that made him feel even worse. Those feelings of sadness were now replaced with anger once more, and she immediately began to rant to him as soon as the door was closed behind him.

"Do they have any idea how much I've sacrificed? How much I've gone through? I can't go back, Poe! There's no way I'm going back! He'll kill me if I do, and he'll kill General Organa, the only way to get back at him is to fight and I'm not going to be some pawn in a trade!" she cried. Poe immediately tried to shush her and pulled her close in a hug. She buried her face in his shoulder and he could feel her tension start to melt away, and he wondered if she was going to start crying again.

"I'm not letting them do that to. Never. I am never letting you go back there as long as I live," he vowed. She pulled away and looked at him with a look of wonder in her eyes.

"I've never…I mean…no one has ever stood up for me before," she said softly. Poe reached down and wiped a tear away from her cheek. He felt like his heart was going to explode, and the connection between them was tugging at him so strongly he was sure it would break at any moment from pure tension. His ears were ringing and as he held her in his arms, he couldn't help but think about how perfect this all felt. She seemed to fit into his arms like a piece to a puzzle, like his arms were just _meant_ to wrap around her…

He reached forward and pushed a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear. A heavy realization hit him as he did that, and he realized that without a doubt, she'd done what no other being in the universe had managed to do before. She'd stolen his heart. He was completely at her mercy, he knew that now, but he had no desire to try and take his heart back.

She stepped back and bit her lip before looking back at him. "I could have left at any moment, you know," she told him sternly. "If I really wanted to. I could have stolen your secrets and just walked out of here without any damage."

Poe knew that was true. He'd known since he first saw her that she had powers beyond his imagination. But he knew she wasn't talking about leaving and going back to the First Order. He could sense she was talking about something else.

"But you didn't," he noted.

"I didn't," she said.

The tension finally snapped.

They stared at each other for another moment, and before he was entirely sure what was happening, he found himself reaching towards her and pulling her towards him by her waist, capturing her deep red lips with his own. She immediately threw her hands around his face, pulling him close like he was her only source of oxygen.

This was it – this was what true bliss felt like. Poe had never felt this way in his entire life, not even when he was behind the wheel of his beloved X-Wing. He'd kissed plenty of people in the past, but he'd never felt a connection like this. He wanted to melt into her, pulling her as close as humanely possible. He took her by the waist and ground his hips into her, causing her to moan as she felt his now prominent erection grinding in to her. He opened his mouth to allow her tongue to explore against his, and he let out a soft groan as she pulled away.

"Poe, wait…" she said.

"No, no, don't say wait," he urged her, chuckling as he put a hand behind her head, tangling his fingers in her bright hair. She giggled and pushed her forehead against his.

"We have to go back and finish coming up with a battle plan," she told him.

He shook his head. "There's nothing to discuss. You're not being traded for Leia. End of story," he explained. "I'll stop anyone who tries to do otherwise," he vowed.

She smiled and kissed him again. He knew that she was right – he wanted to stay here and ravish her, but they had to come up with an alternative plan. A battle plan – that was the only way they were getting Leia back without a trade.

He reluctantly pulled away. "We'll figure this out, you and me," he told her. She nodded in agreement.

"I know we will," she told him.

"You stay here. I'll talk to Jess and figure this out. I think it's best if you're…not there," he told her, biting his lip awkwardly. He knew that she now knew Jess' intentions behind making the suggestion of the trade, and she nodded. She sat down on the bed, her gorgeous dress falling over her legs gracefully and sparkling in the sunlight again. He had to remind himself that he couldn't just take her right there and rip that dress off of her - he had a job to do. He walked over and gave her another long kiss, and then he left, despite the fact that it felt like he was leaving his lifeline behind.

As he left her room, he was entirely sure that he was doomed, because he was in love and there was no other way around it.


	13. Sparkling

**Hello everyone! Sorry that I took a much longer than expected hiatus on this story. I promise you I HAVE been thinking about it, but having serious writers block. Crazy work schedule and a recent move hasn't helped. But here's a short little update I hope you enjoy! I threw in lots of lemons for you as an apology for my hiatus ;)**

* * *

Poe had to stop and remind himself to breathe for a few seconds after he left the room. It was taking all his damn willpower to not go back in there and kiss her senseless. All he wanted to do was rip that sparkly dress off of her and forget about this stupid war going on around them.

That was impossible. The fact was, there _was_ a war, and half of the people in charge wanted to hand Vaneli over to the murderous Kylo Ren.

First things first – he had to find Jess. While it might have been worthwhile to try and find Solina or Lando and try to talk some sense into them, he figured it was best to give them a moment. They would surely think it over and realize how foolish this plan was, right? Right. He had to keep telling himself that. Besides, Jess was one of his best friends, and it didn't feel right leaving things so…damaged between them.

Yes. He had to find her.

It wasn't hard – she was still in the conference room when he returned. She was the only one, in fact. She was sitting in the chair that Lando had been occupying, but had turned it so it faced the windows. The food had all been moved away, and it was eerily quiet in there. He wasn't sure where everyone else had gone, but he was grateful for it. He needed a moment alone with her.

She could sense that he was coming and didn't say a word until he was nearly upon her. She didn't turn from her chair, though, and instead spoke into the empty air in front of her.

"Poe, before you say anything…"

"No, _you_ listen," he told her, rounding so he was facing her and glaring down at her. He was hoping he would see a look of regret, but instead he found a look of defiance. Her dark eyes were glaring up at him, ready for a fight. The courage and bravery he admired in his best friend was now being used against him. He had been intending on being level headed with her, calm and collected - all of that went out the window immediately upon seeing that defiant look.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" he cried. He had been planning on ranting to her about how irresponsible she was, how her idea was the absolute worst thing she'd ever done, and countless other ravings, but this was all he could come up with in the moment. His anger was clouding his brain. She stood up and turned away, crossing her arms angrily.

"I'm thinking of the greater good, Poe! Do you know how many people _died_ back at the base? Our friends! Our fellow soldiers! This has got to _stop!_ I don't care what you tell me about her, she's one of _them_ and you can't deny getting rid of her would be one less thing to worry about," she snapped at him.

 _Poe, don_ _'_ _t get angry. Talk to her. Be calm._

Damnit, Vaneli was in his head again. This connection was going to be a blessing and a curse, wasn't it? Still, she was right. She could probably feel all the anger he was about to unleash upon her across the palace in her room.

"Vaneli didn't kill those people," he told her sternly. Jess turned and flash a glare at him.

"She led them there, so she may as well have."

"She didn't know the saber was bugged!"

"How can you be sure of that?" she asked. "How can you be sure of everything that she tells you?"

Poe stopped and tried to figure out what to say. If Finn was right, if this entire argument was really rooted in jealously…he had to be careful in his wording. But as Jess stared at him, he knew that _she_ knew deep down why he trusted her. She might not want to see it, but she knew. He'd known her long enough to know when she was frightened, and he could see it behind all the anger on her face.

"We have a connection. With the Force," he told her slowly. Jess blinked, her eyes watering slightly as though she was about to start crying. He was sure that wasn't the answer she had expected, but it was just as important.

"The Force?" she asked in confusion. He nodded.

"Yes. I have it, Jess. I mean, it's pretty…new, but…I know she isn't lying. She really is on our side, Jess. You have to accept that. And trading her for Leia….you know that would never work," he said softly. The tears that were dancing in her eyes finally fell and she turned away, wiping them furiously.

"Damnit, Dameron. Just say it already, ok?" she mumbled. Poe wrinkled his eyebrows.

"What do you…?"

"You know what I mean, Poe. Stop dancing around the fucking truth. You want to keep her around because…you _love_ her don't you?" she said softly, tears silently falling down her cheeks. She stared off at the windows that surrounded the conference room, staring out into the clouds of Bespin and avoiding his gaze.

Poe felt a lump rise in his throat. Vaneli had been right, and the aching thought that had been bugging him for ages in the back of his brain came to the forefront once again. _Jess likes you. Hell, probably more than likes you. She loves you too._

He took a deep breath, swallowing the lump and pushing it aside. "Yes, I do. I love her, Jess," he admitted.

She didn't say anything. She was crying, he could tell, but she still wasn't facing him. He didn't know what to do. Did he go to her? Did he try to comfort her? He couldn't ignore the fact that he felt a sinking pain in his heart as well. He didn't love Jess in the same way that she loved him, but she was his best friend. It hurt him to see her like this.

 _You were a fucking moron, Dameron. You should have known better than to fool around with your best friend. What did you think was going to happen? Of course someone was going to get hurt…_

He had thought that all their late night rendezvous had been just about sex and nothing more. That was all it had been to him, and he wondered if he had secretly known that it meant more to her than it did to him. Had he known and ignored it so he could continue using her? He felt awful, wondering if that was indeed the case…

"I'm so sorry Jess. You're my best friend," he told her, finally walking up to her and placing his hand gently on her shoulder. She sighed heavily and shook her head.

"And nothing more," she mumbled.

"Shut up, you know that isn't true. You're like family to me. I'm sorry that I…can't love you the way you want me to," he said softly. She wiped away her last tear and took a deep breath before facing him, shaking her head again.

"No, it's my fault. I knew you were using me. I didn't care. I guess I hoped maybe…I don't know…" her voice trailed off and she stared out to the sky again.

Poe didn't say anything. He couldn't think of anything TO say, and nothing would likely help the situation right now. After what felt like an eternity she finally spoke again.

"I'm sorry I said we should turn Vaneli over to Ren. I'm not a moron, I know that would never work, and no one would go along with the idea, I just…I saw you staring at her at breakfast…damnit Poe, the look you were giving her! It made my heart hurt. I've never seen such…admiration in your eyes. It came out of jealousy, and it was stupid…"

She started to cry again, and Poe found himself pulling her in to a tight hug. He let her sob on his shirt for a few moments and then pulled away, wiping her face again.

"Solina already said we aren't going through with it. They decided right after you and Finn left. I'm sorry Poe," she mumbled. Poe smiled softly and gave her a tight squeeze.

"Thank you, Jess. And I'm sorry for…everything. I should have never gotten involved with you…"

She looked up at him and smiled, then pulled away and gave him a playful punch in the chest, although it was much weaker than her usual playful hitting.

"Hey, I was never throwing you off of me, right?" she joked, and Poe let out a laugh that was also partially a sigh of relief. Things were going to be ok with him and Jess, he knew it. He forgave her for her suggestion, because no harm had come of it - and really, he was a true idiot for leading her on all this time. He got himself into that situation, and he should have known it could only have a terrible ending.

Despite the fact that he didn't love her in _that_ way, Poe did love Jess like she was a sister, and even though they were in a big pile of shit right now, with most of their men dead and their General missing, he took comfort in the fact that they'd finally cleared the air, and everything would be ok between them.

* * *

Jess had updated him on what he had missed after his little outburst. Solina and Lando ultimately sided with Luke that they would not be offering Vaneli as a trade for Leia. The plan, as of this moment, was to stage an attack and send a group of soldiers to extract the general from her cell while the fighting was going on. It wasn't the best plan, but it was all they had at the moment. They would know more once the remaining ships from the base arrived and they saw what they had to work with, solider wise.

After he had been briefed, there was only one thing on his mind - Vaneli. Now that everything had been smoothed over with Jess and the rest of the group, and they were all off in their respective rooms, sleeping and recovering from the surprise attack the day before, he knew where he needed to go.

And he did _not_ plan on sleeping when he got there.

He practically ran to her room after his meeting with Jess, and he knocked on the door before letting himself in. Vaneli was standing, staring out at the sky with her back to him. She turned when he came back and smiled - she probably already knew the answer to her question before she asked it. He had no doubt she'd been there in his head the whole time.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Great. Just great," he told her with a grin. He was _barely_ resisting the urge to run right at her and scoop her in his arms. The sun was making her sparkle again, and she turned her back to him once more, looking over her shoulder at him and smiling coyly.

"Like I said earlier - I don't do dresses. Mind unzipping me?" she asked. Poe blinked. Had he heard her correctly? He was sure he had but…was he dreaming? Had Jess knocked him out out of jealousy and now he was hallucinating?

"Wha…what?" he asked. She giggled and pulled aside her white blonde hair so he could see how low cut the dress went in the back. _Oh Gods._

"Come help me," she said playfully, and he didn't need to be asked twice. Despite his urge to rip the dress off in pieces, he knew he had to go slow. He approached her and his fingers lingered over the zipper before dancing up her exposed back. He inhaled sharply and then moved his fingers back, grasping the zipper and slowly pulling it down.

The zipper revealed her lower back, stopping just above her backside, and he moved his hands back up to her shoulders, slowly pushing the fabric away. He slowly leaned forward and kissing her shoulder softly, then down her left arm as he slowly removed her arm from the sleeve. She sighed contently against him, and he felt a wave of excitement wash over him. His hands moved to her waist and he ground against her backside, just excited as he had been less than an hour before. She let out a small moan and his fingers tightened at her waist. He roughly turned her to face him and he kissed her, her hands flying to the sides of his face as he devoured her lips with his own.

Every touch felt like electricity. Every time her fingers brushed against him, he felt his heart soar - he'd never been this _connected_ with someone. He could _feel_ the intensity, the excitement radiating off her, and he was sure that it was _her_ heartbeat that he could feel in his ears with each moan she let loose against his lips. Was this because of the Force? Or just their natural chemistry? A little of both, he figured, but he didn't give a damn at all. It was the most exhilarating, intoxicating sensation he'd ever felt. Her hands were now tangled in his hair, and his moved to the top of her dress, eagerly pushing it off of her shoulders. She shrugged out of it and then pushed away so he could look at her - she was completely exposed to him now, besides her panties, with the sunlight form the window illuminating her like an angel.

"Gods, Vannie, I mean…fuck, you're beautiful," he gasped before grabbing her roughly by the waist and pulling her towards him. She gasped and moaned as he ground in to her again, and somehow, he wasn't sure how, they made their way over to the bed. He tumbled down and she was on top of him, anxiously playing with the belt on his tunic.

She made quick work of that and slipped it off of him, revealing his chiseled chest and the numerous scars he'd earned during his time in the Resistance. She kissed each one softly, but it was hard to focus on that as her hands were moving lower and lower, playing with the waist band on his pants.

He inhaled sharply as she pulled them down, down…underwear and all, it was gone in a matter of seconds. He was now completely exposed to her, and she didn't waste any time moving back to his hard member, taking him in her mouth. He let out a strangled sort of cry of surprise, closing his eyes and trying to gain some sort of control. He hadn't expected all _that_ so soon, and her hands were working magic with the base of his cock, rubbing nerves that he hadn't known existed, making the room spin before him. The view from here was amazing - her white blonde hair bobbing up and down as she took him into her mouth, hands moving all around his thighs and his cock to give him added pleasure.

If he were to die right now, he thought, he'd be a thousand percent ok with going out like this.

He wanted to stop her, he had every intention of it - but he was so aroused, so completely engulfed with passion and lust and longing for _her_ that before he knew it, he let out a loud groan and emptied into her mouth, succumbing to the pleasure. He had lasted barely a minute. He was gripping the sheet so hard his knuckles were turning white, and when he finally came back down from his high, she was smirking at him with those beautiful red lips, looking extremely pleased with herself. He should have been embarrassed, but instead, he laughed.

"Impatient, are we?" he asked, panting heavily as she crawled back up to him, settling next to him and biting his earlobe playfully. She giggled and kissed his cheek.

"I can't help it…you _do_ something to me, Poe," she breathed heavily into his ear, making him shiver. Despite the fact that he'd just come so hard he could probably sleep for a whole year to recover, her hot breath on his ear reignited the flame in his belly. His body wasn't quite ready to go yet, but that was fine with him - he had to return the favor she'd just delivered to him, after all.

"Come here," he growled, flipping so that he was on top of her. He kissed her, tasting the remnants of himself on her tongue, as his hands made their way down to her chest. She groaned into his mouth as he playfully squeezed her breasts, pinching the nipples between his fingers with a wicked grin. He moved down further, kissing the crest of her breasts before taking the right one in his mouth and sucking the nipple. She moaned loudly, and with his free hand that wasn't holding him up, he danced his fingers across her belly and down to the waistline of her panties.

He slowly slid his hand beneath the band, feeling for her center. She was hot and wet - Gods, she was _so_ wet - he felt a twinge of excitement in his cock at the feeling and knew he was going to be a-ok to go again _quite_ soon.

"Gods, Vannie…" he moaned, taking a second to compose himself. The fact that she felt so wet, all for him…it was exhilarating. She gasped as a finger found its way into her opening, and his thumb began to play at her clit. She began to squirm, and he stopped for just a moment to pull the damn panties off. They were just getting in the way, after all.

He didn't stop there. He leaned back down, opening her legs wide, and he licked along her thigh, causing her to squirm again as he got close to her opening. She was practically _begging_ him with those movements to continue his teasing, and while he wanted to keep teasing her and make her wait - fuck it, this was too damn hot and he didn't give a shit. He was going to go as fast as he pleased.

He kissed along her thighs, getting closer and closer to her wet folds before leaning down and kissing her clit softly. She bucked into his mouth with another moan - damnit, if she kept getting this excited, she was going to make him lose it just _watching_ her moan and groan like this.

Screw this - he wanted to make her _scream_ for him. While his tongue focused on her clit, he reached in and slipped two fingers into her opening, swift and hard, causing her to gasp and buck into his hand.

"Oh, Poe!" she moaned, and that was all the motivation he needed. He began to move in and out, fucking her with his fingers as his tongue did circles on that precious bundle of nerves. He pulled away after a few moments and replaced his tongue with his thumb, moving his fingers in a fast, hard rhythm.

"Poe…wait, I'm gonna come…" she squeaked softly. Poe grinned at her wickedly - good, that was what he wanted. He could tell she wanted him to stop, wanted to save it for the main event - but he wasn't about to let that happen. He went faster, and a moment later she crashed over the edge. She cried out, walls tightening around his fingers as she too grabbed the sheets on the bed so hard he was surprised one of them hadn't ripped holes in them yet.

She was panting like she had just run a marathon, and he leaned over her, kissing her softly as he settled himself over her. His tip brushed against her opening and the world began to spin in front of him. He resisted the urge to slam right in to her and instead reached up to cup her cheek in his head.

"Vannie, I…I love you," he whispered, gazing into her dark eyes, which were clouded with lust and looking at him in a way he had never been looked at before. She smiled, red lips forming a huge grin as she giggled and leaned up to kiss him.

"I love you too," she whispered back. Poe felt himself smiling wide at the revelation - even though he was sure she had felt it too, it felt good to confirm it. He'd never uttered those words to anyone, man or woman, before. He truly meant it.

He took her hands in his and kissed her deeply before plunging in to her hot center.

She gasped and he let out a groan, stopping a second to let her adjust to him. Fuck, she was tight and wet and hot and _Gods he wasn't going to last more than two thrusts_ he was sure of it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to regain control before pulling out and sliding back in. She groaned and thrust her hips up to meet him, causing him to let out a low moan.

Yeah, this was not going to be a long event by any means.

He began to move faster, still trying to keep a somewhat slow pace, but with each thrust she squirmed a bit more underneath him and it turned him on even more. He began to move a bit faster, when suddenly he found himself on his back. She'd flipped him over, somehow - probably with the Force, but he didn't give a shit, really. The view from down here was _amazing._ She ground her hips into him, riding him slowly - even though the pace had slowed, this felt far more erotic than the position they'd been in before.

He reached up and grabbed her ass, squeezing it and pushing her harder onto his cock. She began to ride him a bit faster, breasts bouncing as she moved on top of him. He could sense she was getting excited, getting closer and closer to the edge, and he reached up and began to rub her clit as she rode him. This spurred her on, and suddenly Poe was overcome with the desire to get on top again. When she came, he wanted to see her squirm and crumble apart underneath him - hopefully screaming his name.

He pulled her close and then rolled her onto her back, taking her by surprise. He lifted up her legs and propped himself up before he began to pick up the pace. At this angle, he was able to get nice and deep, and he could tell he was hitting _something_ right - her eyes were closed and she was starting to grip the bedsheets again, her mouth opening slightly as she got closer and closer to her peak.

When she finally came, she screamed his name, moaning loudly as her wetness constricted against him, which was more than enough to get him to his climax as well. He let out a strangled cry as her name came from his lips, and he emptied himself into her. Such a wave of pleasure crashed over him he was positive he was going to pass out - his toes curled, his grip on her thighs tightened so hard he was sure he would leave bruises, and he may have been imagining it, but he felt like he had been riding out that orgasm longer than normal. She collapsed under him and he joined her a moment later, pulling her onto her side so he could lay next to her while still staying inside her.

All that could be heard was the pound of hearts and the panting as they tried to regain their breath. His whole body felt… _tingly._ Yes, that was as good word to describe it. He tried to remember a time that he'd had a fuck that good, and he couldn't think of a single one. There was something different about making love to Vaneli. Not only was it the first time he'd legitimately made _love_ to someone, it felt…extra special. He couldn't put it into words, but he knew that whatever it was, it had something to do with their connection.

How, with all the planets and all the people in the galaxy, had he been lucky enough to establish such a strong connection with the beautiful creature next to him?

"That was amazing," he said finally, causing her to giggle as she snuggled against him. He finally rolled out of her and she nuzzled her face against his neck.

"Can we just sit out the rest of the war and do _that_ all day?" she asked with a chuckle. He grinned and kissed her forehead.

"Fine by me."

Suddenly, a loud pounding at their door made them jump up. Vaneli instinctively pulled the blanket over her, and Poe thought for a moment that it was another attack. It would be _just his damn luck_ that they'd get attacked right after he had just been fucked senseless. Whoever it was, though, didn't seem to be intent on coming in - just making noise.

"Hey! Do you two mind being a bit quieter while you're _fucking_?! Some of us are trying to catch up on sleep!"

Poe snorted and let out a laugh. He recognized that voice - it was Finn. Their room must be close to his - and they certainly hadn't been trying to be quiet. Vaneli laughed as well, and Poe called out an apology, although he was pretty sure by the time he spoke, Finn had already stormed back to his room.

"Well, that secret will be out by lunchtime," Poe chuckled as he collapsed back onto the bed. Vaneli sighed and nuzzled him again.

"I don't really care."

"Good. Me either."


End file.
